:: 


\ 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 


WITH 
THE  BATTLE  FLEET 


CRUISE   OF  THE   SIXTEEN   BATTLESHIPS    OF    THE 
UNITED  STATES  ATLANTIC  FLEET  FROM  HAMP- 
TON ROADS  TO  THE  GOLDEN  GATE 

DECEMBER,  190?— MAY,  1908 


BY 

FRANKLIN  MATTHEWS 


ILLUSTRATED   BY 
HENRY  REUTERDAHL 

(Courtesy  of  Collier's  Weekly) 


1909 

B.  W.  HUEBSCH 

NEW  YORK 


r.K^ 


Copyright  1909 
by  B.  W.  HUEBSCH 


1st  Printing,  October,  1908 
2d  Printing,  December,  1908 
3d  Printing,  February,  1909 


TO 

REAR  ADMIRAL  RICHARD  WAINWRIGHT,  U.  S.  N., 

(Captain  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana  on  the  Atlantic  Fleet's  Cruise  to  the  Pacific) 

AN  ABLE  OFFICER  AND 
A  GENTLEMAN 


228468 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    FROM  HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD 1 

II.     CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE   FLEET 25 

III.  TRINIDAD  TO  Rio  DE  JANEIRO ,47 

IV.  NEPTUNE  AHOY! 64 

V.    BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME 86 

VI.    NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA 114 

VII.  PUNTA  ARENAS,  THE  WORLD'S  JUMPING-OFF  PLACE     .     .  135 

VIII.    THROUGH   MAGELLAN   STRAIT 164 

IX.     IN  AND  OUT  or  VALPARAISO  HARBOR 182 

X.    PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING 198 

XI.     TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA  BAY 228 

XII.     ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP 254 

XIII.  SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  AN  AMERICAN  MAN-O'-WAR 282 

XIV.  END  AND  LESSONS  OF  THE  CRUISE  TO  THE  PACIFIC  .     .     .  309 


INTRODUCTORY 

On  December  16,  1907,  there  sailed  from  Hampton 
Roads,  bound  for  San  Francisco,  a  fleet  of  sixteen  Ameri- 
can battleships,  the  most  powerful  collection  of  warships 
ever  assembled  under  the  American  flag  and  about  to  un- 
dertake the  longest  cruise  that  any  fleet  of  any  nation  had 
ever  made.  It  was  ordered  to  make  this  journey  of  about 
14,000  miles  by  President  Roosevelt,  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  Navy  by  virtue  of  his  office,  for  reasons  which  he 
did  not  deem  wise  to  make  public  fully  and  which  up  to  this 
writing  have  not  been  revealed.  In  his  annual  message 
submitted  to  Congress  a  few  days  before  the  fleet  sailed 
the  President  designated  the  fleet,  still  known  officially  as 
the  U.  S.  Atlantic  Fleet,  as  the  Battle  Fleet. 

Rear  Admiral  Robley  D.  Evans  was  in  command  of  the 
fleet,  of  the  first  squadron  and  of  the  first  division  of  the 
first  squadron.  The  ships  of  his  division  were  the  Connec- 
ticut, (Captain  H.  Osterhaus),  Kansas  (Captain  C.  E. 
Vreeland),  Vermont  (Captain  W.  P.  Potter)  and  Louis- 
iana (Captain  Richard  Wainwright).  The  ships  of  the 
second  division  of  the  first  squadron  were  commanded  by 
Rear  Admiral  William  H.  Emory  and  were  the  Georgia 
(Captain  H.  McCrea),  New  Jersey  (Captain  W.  H.  H. 
Southerland),  Rhode  Island  (Captain  J.  B.  Murdock) 
and  Virginia  (Captain  S.  Schroeder).  The  second  squad- 
ron of  the  fleet  and  its  third  division  were  commanded  by 


x  INTRODUCTORY 

Rear  Admiral  Charles  M.  Thomas,  and  the  ships  of  his  di- 
vision were  the  Minnesota  (Captain  J.  Hubbard),  Ohio 
(Captain  C.  W.  Bartlett),  Missouri  (Captain  G.  A. 
Merriam)  and  the  Maine  (Captain  G.  B.  Harber). 
The  ships  of  the  fourth  division  were  commanded  by 
Rear  Admiral  Charles  S.  Sperry  and  his  ships  were 
the  Alabama  (Captain  T.  E.  DeW.  Veeder),  Illinois 
(Captain  J.  M.  Bowyer),  Kearsarge  (Captain  H.  Hutch- 
ins)  and  Kentucky  (Captain  W.  C.  Cowles).  There  were 
about  14,000  men  on  the  ships  and  the  value  of  the  ves- 
sels and  stores  was  about  $100,000,000. 

The  following  compilation  shows  where  the  fleet 
stopped,  how  long  each  stay  was  and  the  distance  travelled. 

Sailed  from  Hampton  Roads,  Va.,  December  16,  1907. 

Arrived  Port  of  Spain,  December  23,  1907;  sailed  December  29, 
1907;  1,594.7  knots;  time  7  days  9  hours. 

Arrived  Rio  de  Janeiro,  January  12,  1908;  sailed  January  22,  1908; 
3,225  knots;  time,  13  days  20  hours. 

Arrived  Possession  Bar,  Chile,  January  31,  1908;  sailed  February 
1,  1908;  2,076  knots;  time,  9  days. 

Arrived  Punta  Arenas,  Chile,  February  1,  1908;  sailed  February 
7,  1908;  75  knots;  time,  9  hours. 

Arrived  Callao,  Peru,  February  20,  1908;  sailed  February  29,  1908; 
2,693  knots;  time,  12  days  10  hours. 

Arrived  Magdalena  Bay,  Mexico,  March  12,  1908;  sailed  April  11, 
1908;  3,025  knots;  time,  12  days  23  hours. 

Arrived  San  Diego,  Cal.,  April  14,  1908;  sailed  April  18,  1908; 
590  knots;  time,  2  days  21  hours. 

Arrived  San  Pedro,  Cal.,  April  18,  1908;  sailed  April  25,  1908;  75 
knots;  time,  9  hours. 

Arrived  Santa  Barbara,  Cal.,  April  25,  1908;  sailed  April  30,  1908; 
85  knots;  time,  10  hours. 

Arrived  Monterey,  Cal.,  May  1,  1908;  sailed  May  2,  1908;  210 
knots;  time,  25  hours. 

Arrived  Santa  Cruz,  Cal.,  May  2,  1908;  sailed  May  5,  1908;  15 
knots;  time,  2  hours. 


INTRODUCTORY  xi 

Arrived  San  Francisco  Lightship,  May  5,  1908;  sailed  May  6,  1908; 
60  knots;  time,  6  hours. 

Arrived  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  May  6,  1908;  15  knots;  time,  2  hours. 
Total  knots,  13,738. 

Actual  time  of  cruising,  61  days  19  hours. 

The  departure  of  the  fleet  excited  intense  interest 
throughout  the  civilized  world.  Its  progress  was  watched 
with  eagerness  at  home  and  abroad.  The  letters  printed 
herewith  record  what  took  place  on  this  momentous  jour- 
ney, and  they  constitute  practically  a  chronological  story 
of  the  cruise.  Every  word  of  them  was  passed  upon  by 
duly  appointed  naval  officers  with  the  fleet.  Their  ac- 
curacy therefore  must  be  unquestioned.  They  were  writ- 
ten for  The  Sun  of  New  York  and  they  were  printed 
originally  by  that  newspaper  and  its  clients  simultaneously 
throughout  the  country.  They  are  reproduced  by  the 
special  permission  of  the  Sun  Printing  and  Publishing 
Association  and  in  response  to  a  large  number  of  written 
and  oral  requests  that  a  permanent  record  be  made  of  the 
cruise  and  its  incidents. 

The  author  takes  pleasure  in  making  acknowledgment 
of  the  kindly  co-operation  of  Lieut.  F.  Taylor  Evans  of 
the  Louisiana  in  the  preparation  of  the  letters  and  in  the 
elimination  of  technical  naval  errors  through  his  watchful 
supervision.  The  author  is  also  under  obligations  to  very 
many  officers  of  the  fleet,  especially  to  Lieutenant  Com- 
mander C.  T.  Jewell,  navigator  of  the  Louisiana,  for  sug- 
gestions and  for  assistance  in  gathering  information,  as 
well  as  for  the  cordiality  with  which  he  and  the  other  cor- 
respondents, all  of  whom  were  sent  with  the  fleet  by  special 
direction  of  the  President,  were  received  on  the  ships. 

F.  M. 

New  York,  July  1,  1908. 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 


CHAPTER  I 

FROM  HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD 

Run  of  the  Battleships  Down  to  the  West  Indies  —  The  "  Sweet  Six- 
teen "  Quick  to  Get  Down  to  Business  After  the  Sentiment  of  the 
Good-by —  Formation  of  the  Fleet  —  Difficulties  of  Maintaining 
the  Proper  Distances  —  Naval  Routine  —  Gospel  of  Neatness  — 
Neptune's  Preparations  for  Celebrating  the  Crossing  of  the  Line  — 
Arrival  at  Trinidad. 

Vn  Board  U.  S.  S.  'Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

TRINIDAD,  Dec.  24*. 

£  £  TT  CALL  'em  '  Sweet  Sixteen',  sir,"  said  the  bos'n's 

mate  to  the  Sun  correspondent  as  Admiral  Evans 

in  the  flagship  Connecticut  led  the  battle  fleet  past 

the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake  out  to  sea  just  before  noon  on 

December  16  and  the  gentle  swells  lifted  and  lowered  the 

bows  of  one  ship  after  another  to  nod  their  own  farewells 

to  the  Mayflower  at  anchor  near  the  Tail  of  the  Horseshoe. 

The  officers  and  men  had  stood  at  attention  to  receive 

the  good-by  and  godspeed  of  the  President,  and  they  had 

thundered  their  farewells  to  him  from  the  throats  of  the 

3-pounder  barkers  that  spat  fire  and  snorted  out  great  puffs 

of  smoke,  but  when  each  ship  began  to  find  herself  she  too 

made  her  good-by    as  only  a  dignified  ship  could  make  it, 

taking  no  orders  from  Admiral  or  Captain  as  to  when  and 


2/.\  ;  !  ••'  i  ;•  iwzilri  .  Tite  .BATTLE  FLEET 


how  often  she  should  bow  to  the  ship  that  carried  the 
President. 

A  stiff  northwest  wind  seized  hold  of  the  great  streamers 
of  smoke  that  poured  over  the  tops  of  smoke-pipes,  and  as 
these  streamers  frayed  themselves  out  against  the  blue  sky 
and  the  bright  sun  the  breeze  seemed  to  lift  them  toward 
the  southeastern  heavens,  where  some  power  wove  them 
together  to  pull  the  ships  along  and  give  them  a  fine  send- 
off.  All  of  Monday  and  Tuesday  whoever  it  was  in  the 
kingdom  of  Old  Boreas  that  was  doing  the  tugging  on 
the  ships  made  a  good  job  of  it,  for  practically  every 
vessel  in  the  fleet  had  to  check  speed  constantly. 

Admiral  Evans  had  his  own  notions  as  to  the  way  a 
great  fleet  should  set  sail  on  a  prolonged  voyage,  and  his 
commanding  officers  got  down  to  business  in  a  jiffy.  All 
acted  as  if  sending  a  fleet  of  sixteen  battleships  on  a 
14,000  mile  cruise  were  a  mere  matter  of  ordinary  routine. 
The  officers  of  the  deck  on  all  the  ships  were  concerned 
chiefly  about  keeping  their  proper  distances,  the  naviga- 
tors were  taking  bearings  and  already  getting  ready  for 
figuring  out  latitudes  and  longitudes,  the  executive  officers 
were  going  about  to  see  that  everything  was  in  proper 
order  for  routine  at  sea  and  the  captains  were  mostly  on 
the  bridges  casting  their  eyes  about  and  keeping  their 
ears  open,  alert  to  correct  any  move  that  might  mar  the 
performance  of  their  ships  in  the  fleet  formation. 

Below  decks  in  engine  and  fire  rooms,  and  in  all  the  other 
of  the  scores  of  places  where  men  watch  and  work  in  a 
warship,  routine  was  established  quickly. 

It  was  all  very  businesslike.  Every  ship  was  doing  the 
same  thing  at  the  same  time.  True,  the  fleet  had  started 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  3 

tor  San  Francisco,  but  that  was  a  mere  detail,  so  little  has 
the  matter  of  destination  to  do  with  perfecting  drill  on  a 
warship. 

Getting  away  from  Hampton  Roads  may  have  sent  a 
lump  into  many  a  man's  throat,  but  not  one  showed  it.  On 
every  ship  the  band  was  playing  the  usual  good-by  medley 
composed  of  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  "The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me  "  and  "  Auld  Lang  Syne."  The  middle  part 
of  the  medley  brought  thumping  of  many  feet  on  the 
deck,  but  there  was  silence  and  stern  looks  ahead  when  the 
beginning  and  end  were  reached,  over  and  over  again. 

A  staff  officer  on  the  Louisiana  showed  the  attitude  of 
the  naval  man.  He  had  told  his  wife  and  family  exactly 
where  to  go  in  a  remote  but  conspicuous  place  on  the  ram- 
parts of  old  Fort  Monroe  so  that  he  could  distinguish 
them  easily  with  his  glass.  He  had  told  them  he  would 
be  on  the  after  bridge.  When  the  ship  came  near  the 
station  of  his  family  he  stole  far  out  on  the  bridge,  fixed 
his  glass  on  the  family  group  and  waved  and  waved  his 
handkerchief.  The  answer  came  quickly  and  the  flashes 
seemed  to  be  wigwags,  such  as  a  naval  officer's  wife  might 
be  expected  to  know. 

The  officer  stood  it  for  about  two  minutes.  Then  he 
pulled  himself  together  sharply,  turned  and  walked  away. 
He  walked  over  to  a  group  of  his  mates. 

"  Did  you  make  out  your  people,  Jones  ?"  asked  one  of 
them  who  had  noted  what  was  going  on. 

"  I  believe  they  were  over  there  somewhere  in  the  crowd," 
was  the  reply  with  an  apparently  unconcerned  smile. 

He  had  finished  with  that  side  of  his  existence.  From 
now  on  he  knew  no  family ;  his  duty  was  to  his  flag  and 


4  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

ship.  What  was  that  signal  at  the  forward  truck?  E 
anybody  made  it  out?  His  heartstrings  were  out  of  sij 
and  he  was  thankful  they  were. 

The  business  side  of  the  start  was  another  story.  Ord 
had  been  issued  to  steam  in  exact  column,  that  is,  one  s" 
directly  behind  its  leader  at  a  distance  of  400  yards  f r 
masthead  to  masthead.  Steam  was  up;  engines,  steer: 
gear,  annunciators,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  modern  c 
trivances  had  been  tested;  boats  hoisted  in  and  gangw; 
unrigged,  and  then  came  the  flagship  signal  to  get  un 
way. 

How  the  men  did  step  around  and  the  anchor  engi 
tug!     The  division  officer  watched  until  the  anchor  ) 
clear  of  the  mud,  when  he  reported  it  to  the  executive 
ficer,  who  takes  a  ship  in  and  out  of  port.     Finally 
anchor  was  sighted,  the  "  All  ready "  signal  made, 
engines  began  to  throb  and  the  ships  turned  on  their  h( 
and  got  under  way. 

It  was  a  pretty  manoeuvre  in  the  crowded  Roads  w 
the  swift  tide  sweeping  the  ships  seaward.  In  the  cha 
the  leadsman  was  swinging  his  plummet  and  calling  < 
such  things  as  "  By  the  mark  seven,"  "  By  the  deep  si: 
"  By  the  quarter  less  six,"  while  the  ships  slowly  parat 
down  the  bay.  The  channel  was  so  shallow  that  the  sh 
stirred  up  the  mud  and  some  of  it  got  into  the  machine 
and  there  were  hot  bearings  that  were  cooled  down  w 
the  hose.  It  would  not  do  to  falter  or  make  a  blunder 
any  kind,  for  the  President  was  looking  on  and  no  excu 
would  be  tolerated. 

It  was  a  far  different  story  from  the  old  days.     1 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  5 

old  sloop  of  war  Jamestown  lay  in  the  Roads,  and  if  the 
fleet  could  have  stopped  to  listen  she  would  have  spun  a 
yarn  on  how  they  used  to  leave  port.  She  would  have  re- 
marked upon  the  change.  When  she  set  sail  capstan  bars 
would  be  shipped  and  all  that  part  of  the  ship's  company 
manning  the  bars  would  bring  the  anchor  chain  "  up  and 
down,  sir,"  as  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  fo'c's'le  would 
report.  The  captain  and  First  Luff  (the  executive  officer 
who  "  had  to  have  the  ship  working  like  a  chronometer,  no 
thanks  if  he  did  and  his  hide  scorched  by  his  superiors  if 
he  didn't " )  would  stand  on  the  quarter  block  on  the 
weather  side  and  the  navigator  and  officer  of  the  deck  on 
the  lee  side. 

Then  would  come  the  sharp  commands,  "  Aloft  light 
yardmen !  "  "  Aloft  topmen !  "  "  Aloft  lower  yardmen !  " 
"  Lay  out ! "  "  Let  fall ! "  and  a  cloud  of  snowy  canvas 
would  drop  loose  and  limp.  Then  would  come  the  com- 
mands, "  Topsail  sheets  and  halyards !  "  "  To'gallant 
sheets  and  halyards!"  "Set  taut!"  "Haul  away!"  with 
the  shrill  sound  of  the  bos'n's  whistle  to  the  tramp  of 
hundreds  of  feet. 

When  a  band  was  on  board  there  would  be  a  martial  air. 
If  not  the  officer  would  shout  "  Stamp  and  go ! "  and  this 
noise  with  the  feet  meant  so  much  extra  pulling,  and  the 
good  ship  was  soon  on  her  course.  Sometimes  a  chanty 
would  be  sung  instead  of  the  "  Stamp  and  go,"  and  when 
the  ship  was  bound  for  Rio,  just  as  this  fleet  is,  one  could 
hear  the  light  hearted,  and  the  heavy  hearted  ones  too, 
singing  a  refrain  that  the  men  of  this  fleet  might  well  have 
sung  if  the  days  of  the  chanty  had  not  gone  to  limbo : 


6  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Heave  away  for  Rio! 

Heave  away  for  Rio ! 

My  bonny  young  girl, 

My  head's  in  a  whirl, 

For  I'm  bound  for  the  Rio  Grande. 

The  old  days  have  gone,  but  many  a  bluejacket's  head 
(bluejacket,  mind  you;  not  Jackie,  for  many  of  Uncle 
Sam's  tars  and  sea  dogs  don't  like  that  term)  was  in  a 
whirl  over  some  bonny  young  girl,  as  witness  the  hun- 
dreds of  letters  that  were  sent  ashore  on  the  mail  orderly's 
last  trip. 

And  so  the  ships  passed  out  to  sea.  The  matter  of  fact 
officers  occasionally  cast  their  eyes  about  and  when  they 
had  time  to  give  expression  to  their  feelings  about  all 
that  one  would  hear  from  them  would  be: 

"  Mighty,  fine,  sight,  this.  Wonder  what  they're  doing 
back  there?  Distance  seems  wrong.  Better  get  up  his 
position  pennant  or  the  Admiral  may  get  after  him. 
What's  that?  We're  fifty  yards  too  close?  Give  her  three 
revolutions  slower.  Only  twenty-five  now?  Give  her  only 
one  slower.  Get  her  distance  now?  Standard  speed." 

And  the  signals  to  the  engine  room  would  quit  jangling 
for  a  time  while  the  Captain  or  officer  of  the  deck  looked 
around  again  and  repeated: 

"  Mighty  fine  sight,  this !  " 

It  all  depends  on  the  way  you  look  at  it.  You  couldn't 
see  much  going  down  the  Chesapeake  Bay  channel.  There 
was  a  turn  or  two,  but  the  smoke  of  the  saluting  obscured 
things  and  it  was  not  until  the  ships  headed  out  to  sea  and 
the  Connecticut  was  past  the  whistling  buoy,  which  also 
seemed  to  want  to  have  a  share  in  the  sendoff,  that  it  was 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  7 

possible  to  get  a  satisfactory  look  at  the  entire  fleet  that 
stretched  away,  for  more  than  three  miles. 

Then  came  a  signal  for  open  order.  The  Admiral's 
ship  went  right  on.  The  next  following  bore  out  to  port 
and  the  next  to  starboard.  Then  the  ships  paired  off  to 
port  and  starboard,  making  two  lines,  each  a  quarter 
of  a  point  off  the  flagship,  which  had  a  lane  to  itself 
in  the  centre,  giving  the  Admiral  and  his  staff  on  the 
after  bridge  a  view  of  all.  Perhaps  the  formation  may 
be  understood  better  by  the  average  reader  by  saying  that 
it  was  a  wing  and  wing  formation. 

Signals  were  passing  along  the  line  constantly  and 
semaphores  were  throwing  their  arms  about  as  if  they  were 
manikins  performing  for  the  amusement  of  the  14,000  men 
afloat.  It  was  pretty  to  see  a  mass  of  flags  fall  to  the  deck 
simultaneously  from  time  to  time.  It  was  impressive  to 
see  the  flag  of  the  country  fluttering  from  the  gaffs  of 
mainmasts.  It  was  fine  to  see  the  ships  keeping  in  line. 

The  commanding  officers  might  refer  to  the  spectacle  as 
a  mighty  fine  sight,  but  the  few  civilians  with  the  fleet 
shared  the  sentiment  of  a  tar  who  sidled  up  to  the  Sun 
man  and  said: 

"  This  makes  you  proud  of  your  country.  You  know 
already  that  the  country  is  big  and  great  and  all  that,  but 
when  you  see  it  reduced  to  this  kind  of  business  on  the 
ocean  you  are  sure  your  country  is  great.  None  but  a 
great  country  could  produce  such  a  sight  as  this.  I'm 
glad  I've  had  the  chance  to  see  it." 

In  single  file  for  two  hours  the  ships  kept  on  their  course. 
They  were  like  so  many  Indians  on  a  jaunt.  Each  ship 
stood  for  sovereignty.  Each  stood  for  brute  strength. 


8  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Each  stood  for  the  development  of  science  and  skill.  Eacli 
stood  for  an  impressive  expression  of  patriotism.  In  that 
fleet  of  sixteen  ships  there  seemed  to  be  concentrated,  ac* 
cording  to  some  of  those  who  looked  at  them,  the  entire 
power  of  the  United  States  for  good  or  evil. 

When  it  came  to  estimating  the  brute  strength  of  the 
fleet  it  grew  bewildering.  The  mathematicians  got  busy. 
They  figured  out  that  there  were  nearly  1,000  guns  of 
various  kinds  on  the  entire  fleet  and  they  talked  about  the 
weight  of  projectiles  and  charges  and  then  got  down  to 
muzzle  velocity  in  foot  seconds  and  muzzle  energy  in  foot 
tons  and  a  lot  of  other  terms  that  would  make  a  land- 
lubber's head  dizzy.  They  told  how  the  average  muzzle 
velocity  of  those  guns  was  2,700  feet  a  second  and  that  a 
13-inch  gun's  energy  was  equal  to  raising  31,372  tons  a 
foot,  while  that  of  a  12-inch  gun,  with  which  these  ships 
are  all  armed,  could  lift,  by  the  power  of  one  discharge, 
44,025  tons  a  foot.  Then  they  got  to  figuring  out  how 
much  all  the  guns  could  lift  and  how  swift  the  things  they 
shoot  could  go.  This  ran  the  figures  up  into  the  millions 
of  foot  tons  just  for  one  discharge. 

When  some  one  tried  to  figure  out  how  many  millions 
upon  millions  of  foot  tons  could  be  raised  if  all  the  projec- 
tiles in  the  fleet  were  fired  —  the  exact  number  of  the 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  these  projectiles  it  would  not 
be  prudent  even  to  indicate  —  why,  an  amateur  at  figures, 
the  simple  addition,  subtraction,  multiplication  and  di- 
vision man,  got  a  headache. 

Then  the  figure  sharps  got  after  the  engine  power,  and 
they  tried  to  show  if  one  ship  had  something  like  15,000 
horse-power,  more  or  less,  what  the  combined  ships 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  9 

must  have  and  what  could  be  done  with  it  on  land  — 
that  is,  how  many  railroad  trains,  each  a  mile  long, 
could  be  pulled  so  many  thousands  of  miles;  how  many 
bridges  like  those  across  the  East  River  they  could  pull 
down  with  just  one  tug  at  them;  how  many  cities  such 
power  could  light;  how  many  great  factories  and  mills 
could  be  run  with  that  power,  and  even  how  much  goods 
could  be  made  out  of  it  —  well,  after  that  the  amateur  be- 
gan to  wonder  if  he  could  add  up  two  and  two. 

After  that  it  was  figured  out  that  the  displacement  in 
tons  for  the  entire  fleet  was  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion, and  the  weight  of  a  lot  of  other  heavy  things  in  the 
world  was  estimated.  By  this  time  the  amateur  was  clear 
flabbergasted,  and  all  he  could  say,  landlubber  that  he  is 
and  will  be  until  Neptune  has  him  ducked,  was  that  if  the 
fleet  did  displace  250,000  tons  of  water  the  ocean  didn't 
show  any  signs  of  it  and  Uncle  Sam  would  have  to  try 
many,  many  thousands  of  times  if  he  expected  to  get  the 
better  of  old  Neptune  by  displacing  water. 

After  the  mathematical  sharps  had  finished,  what  are 
known  as  the  word  painters  and  grainers  became  busy. 
Some  of  the  word  painters  compared  the  long  file  of  ships 
to  a  line  of  gray  geese  in  a  long  follow-your-leader  flight 
to  the  south  for  a  warmer  clime.  The  ships  did  look  gray 
at  times,  according  to  the  atmospheric  conditions,  but  the 
gray  geese  analogy  was  voted  not  a  success  because  geese 
haven't  things  sticking  up  in  the  middle  of  their  backs 
resembling  the  smoke-pipes  of  battleships.  Besides,  geese 
do  not  give  out  black  or  any  other  kind  of  smoke. 

The  painters  got  out  their  vocabulary  of  magnificent, 
awe  inspiring,  formidable  demons  of  war,  bulldogs  of  the 


10      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

sea,  peace  compellers  and  all  that  string  and  began  to 
weave  them  all  together,  and  it  was  voted  all  right  and 
probably  appropriate,  but  it  was  said  that  these  did  not 
hit  quite  the  right  note. 

That  was  that  this  fleet  was  going  out  for  business  of  a 
different  kind  from  that  which  any  other  American  fleet 
had  undertaken.  The  business  in  hand  was  the  moulding 
of  sixteen  battleship  units  into  one  battle  fleet  unit,  not 
sixteen  times  stronger  than  one  unit,  but  with  the  strength 
increased  in  something  like  geometrical  ratio.  The  prob- 
lem, therefore,  was  to  make  this  fleet  a  unit,  not  like  a 
chain,  strong  only  as  its  weakest  link,  but  like  a  rope,  far 
stronger  than  the  multiplied  strength  of  its  various 
strands. 

Charles  H.  Cramp,  the  veteran  shipbuilder,  nearly  ten 
years  ago  pointed  out  in  a  paper  read  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  naval  men  and  marine  engineers  in  New  York  City 
that  the  greatest  training  need  of  the  United  States  navy 
was  what  he  called  battleship  seamanship.  That  meant  not 
navigation  merely,  but  the  synchronizing  of  one  battle- 
ship to  others,  the  tuning  up,  so  to  speak,  the  team  work, 
to  use  a  football  analogy,  in  sailing,  manoeuvring,  shooting 
—  all  pulling  together. 

Two  hours  after  clearing  the  Capes  Admiral  Evans 
gave  the  signal  for  one  of  his  favorite  cruising  formations, 
that  is,  in  columns  of  fours.  The  four  divisions  of  the 
fleet  drew  up  in  parallel  lines  with  an  Admiral  at  the  head 
of  each  line. 

The  five  starred  white  flag,  called  the  five  of  clubs,  was 
run  up  at  the  fore  truck  of  the  Connecticut  to  indicate 
that  that  ship  was  the  guard  ship.  The  lines  were  run 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  It 

at  intervals  of  1,600  yards,  and  the  ships  of  each  division, 
still  in  wing  and  wing  fashion,  were  at  distances  of  400 
yards.  To  be  strictly  naval  you  must  call  the  space  be- 
tween two  lines  of  ships  interval  and  the  space  between  two 
individual  ships  in  line  distance. 

Well,  after  the  ships  were  spread  out  they  covered  an 
area  of  more  than  two  square  miles,  and  then  one  began  to 
realize  what  all  these  ships  meant.  The  circle  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  miles  that  hemmed  them  in  and  that  expanded 
in  front  and  contracted  in  the  rear  seemed  practically  filled 
with  them.  Distances  were  kept  fairly  well  and  the  ships 
plodded  along  in  the  smooth  sea  nodding  their  approval  of 
what  was  going  on. 

It  was  this  problem  of  distance  that  kept  the  officers  of 
the  decks  busy.  When  you  think  that  each  of  these  ships 
represented  a  weight  of  from  15,000  to  18,000  tons  more 
or  less,  and  that  you  had  to  move  that  ship  at  the  rate  of 
10  knots  an  hour  and  keep  it  within  400  yards  of  a  ship 
in  front  of  you;  when  you  consider  how  some  ships  move 
a  trifle  of  an  inch  faster  than  another  ship  at  the  same 
number  of  propeller  revolutions;  when  you  think  that  one 
of  the  propellers  of  your  own  ship  will  do  more  work  than 
the  other  at  the  same  number  of  revolutions,  and  that  this 
will  throw  you  out  of  your  course  and  make  you  steer  badly 
if  you  don't  correct  it;  when  you  think  that  your  leader 
may  vary  in  his  speed ;  when  you  think  of  ah1  this,  you  can 
begin  to  understand  the  problem  of  those  officers  on  the 
bridge  to  keep  the  ships  in  line  and  at  proper  distances. 

It  took  some  time  for  each  ship  to  determine  how  many 
revolutions  were  necessary  to  produce  ten  knots  speed,  ac- 
cording to  the  standard  of  the  flagship.  For  example, 


13      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  Louisiana's  experts  figured  on  sixty-seven  revolutions. 
It  was  too  much,  for  after  an  hour  or  two  it  was  found  that 
sixty-five  would  do  the  work.  Some  of  the  ships  were  be- 
tween two  numbers.  All  the  time  each  ship  was  gaining 
or  losing  a  trifle  and  this  had  to  be  corrected  every  minute 
or  two.  On  each  ship  a  young  midshipman  stood  on  the 
bridge  beside  the  officer  on  watch  looking  through  a  little 
instrument  of  bars  and  glasses  and  wheels  graduated  to  a 
scale  of  figures  and  called  a  stadimeter.  He  reduced  the 
truckline  and  the  waterline  of  the  flagship  to  some  mathe- 
matical basis  involving  triangulation  —  what's  the  use  of 
trying  to  explain  it?  No  one  but  a  mathematician  could 
understand  it  —  and  then  he  would  say,  "  370  yards,  sir," 
or  perhaps  the  figures  would  be  3£5  or  460,  or  what  not, 
and  the  officer  of  the  deck  would  have  to  signal  to  the 
engine  room  to  slow  down  or  go  faster. 

It  was  to  be  watchful  every  minute  of  the  hour.  The 
midshipman  often  had  to  report  distances  every  fifteen  or 
twenty  seconds  and  the  corrections  of  speed  were  going  on 
every  two  or  three  minutes. 

When  you  got  more  than  forty  yards  out  of  the  way  you 
had  to  fly  a  triangular  pennant  of  white  with  red  border 
and  this  was  set  down  against  your  ship  on  the  flagship, 
and  that  you  didn't  like,  if  you  were  the  responsible  officer. 

And  so  the  first  day  at  sea  wore  on  and  the  sun  went 
down  with  a  glow  of  gold  in  the  west  that  seemed  like  a 
benediction.  Just  as  it  sank  below  the  horizon  the  pink 
rays  that  were  gathering  reflected  themselves  on  the  star- 
board sides  of  the  white  ships  and  gave  them  a  touch  of 
color.  Lights  on  the  main  truck  on  the  foremast  and  at 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  13 

the  stern  and  at  the  sides  appeared  instantly,  and  it  was 
night-time  on  the  fleet. 

The  black  smoke  rose  straight  in  the  air,  other  lights 
began  to  twinkle  and  soon,  in  the  glow  of  the  twilight  and 
the  gleam  of  the  lights  on  the  vessels  themselves  and  the 
illumination  of  the  moon  close  to  the  full,  the  ships  took 
on  an  aspect  such  as  lower  New  York  assumes  early  in  the 
evening  of  mid-winter  days  when  office  buildings  are 
lighted.  When  the  smoke  smudged  the  sky  or  clouded  the 
moon,  however,  it  was  like  a  city  of  factories  and  it  was 
decided  that  there  was  just  one  expression  that  would  give 
some  idea  of  its  beauty.  It  was  this : 

"  Spotless  town  afloat." 

Zest  was  added  to  the  day's  sendoff  and  work  when  the 
officers  were  gathered  in  the  wardroom  at  dinner  and  a 
wireless  telegram  of  good  wishes  from  the  Mayflower,  re- 
ceived a  short  time  before,  was  read.  There  were  cheers 
for  the  President,  especially  on  the  Louisiana,  which  is 
called  the  President's  ship  because  he  sailed  on  her  to 
Panama,  and  hundreds  of  the  officers  and  crew  feel  that 
they  know  him  personally. 

"  Good  for  the  President ! "  shouted  one  of  the  officers 
in  the  waist  of  the  table. 

"  So  say  we  all,"  responded  a  man  on  the  other  side, 
"  but  I  wish  he  had  told  us  where  we  are  going." 

That  man  didn't  have  to  wait  long,  for  soon  there  was 
sent  into  the  wardroom  of  every  ship  a  message  signalled 
from  the  flagship  which  said  that  after  a  brief  stay  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  the  fleet  would  come  home  by  way  of  Suez. 
This  is  what  Admiral  Evans  signalled: 


14      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

UNOFFICIAL  SIGNAL. 

U.  S.  S.  CONNECTICUT, 

December  16th,  1907. 

The  President  authorizes  the  Commander-in-Chief  to  inform  the 
officers  and  men  that  after  a  short  stay  on  the  Pacific  Coast  it  is  the 
President's  intention  to  have  the  fleet  return  to  the  Atlantic  Coast 
by  way  of  the  Mediterranean. 

Every  man  jumped  at  that  news;  every  one  wished  his 
wife  or  sweetheart  could  know  it  at  once.  One  of  the 
puzzles  about  the  fleet  was  settled. 

There  is  no  room  in  this  first  letter  of  the  long  cruise 
to  go  into  detail  about  the  thousand  and  one  things  —  in- 
cidents, ceremonies  and  drills  —  that  make  up  the  routine 
and  life  on  the  warship.  These  will  come  afterward  in 
other  forms.  One  might  tell  how  the  men  on  guard  at 
the  side  lights  at  night  sing  out  after  a  bell  is  tapped: 
"  Port  light  burning  bright,"  "  Starboard  light  burning 
bright,"  how  "  the  9  o'clock  light  is  out,  sir "  report  is 
made  and  received ;  how  they  "  put  the  shirts  on  "  the  gun 
muzzles  and  mainmast ;  how  the  call  to  dinner  to  the  officers 
is  done  on  the  Louisiana  with  a  fife  and  drum,  "  rolling 
roast  beef,"  they  used  to  call  it,  and  probably  do  yet  in  the 
British  navy,  only  the  tune  is  different  in  ours,  for  it  is 
"  Yankee  Doodle  " ;  how  "  sweethearts  and  wives  "  are 
toasted  once  a  week ;  how  "  make  it  eight  bells  "  is  said ; 
how  scores  of  these  things,  many  of  them  well  known,  are 
done  and  why.  Let  it  go  for  the  present. 

If  there  is  one  thing  that  impresses  the  civilian  even 
more  than  the  ceremonies  or  the  peculiar  routine  of  a  war- 
ship it  is  the  cleanliness  of  things.  This  applies  as  much 
to  the  men  as  it  does  to  the  remotest  nook  and  cranny  in 
the  darkest  and  deepest  part  of  the  ship. 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  15 

The  officer  would  take  you  into  some  corner  where  you 
had  to  bend  your  back  and  almost  go  on  your  hands  and 
knees  and  show  you  that  it  was  as  clean  as  the  most  ex- 
posed parts  of  his  bailiwick.  The  fleet  had  not  been  out 
two  days  before  the  executive  officer  issued  an  order  about 
cleanliness. 

The  men  were  cautioned  to  keep  themselves  and  their 
clothes  clean  on  penalty,  of  going  on  the  scrubbing  list. 
It  did  not  mean  that  there  were  men  on  board  who  were 
slack  in  this  respect,  but  there  were  a  lot  of  youngsters  who 
had  never  been  to  sea  before  and  they  needed  to  be  broken 
in.  What  the  scrubbing  list  is  was  well  explained  by  an 
old  time  sailor  on  board.  He  said: 

"  Man-o'-war  cleanliness  is  different  from  any  other  that 
I  know.  I  distinguish  it  from  all  other  kinds  because  it  is 
the  most  searching  and  far  reaching  thing  of  the  kind  in 
the  world. 

"  It  really  begins  on  the  inside  of  a  man,  at  his  soul, 
although  I  am  sorry  to  say  you  can't  always  see  the  effect 
of  it  there,  and  it  works  its  way  out  to  his  skin,  clothing 
and  surroundings.  All  must  be  immaculately  clean,  and 
this  habit  is  so  thoroughly  ingrained  in  the  men  that  to 
maintain  it  they  will  even  commit  crime. 

"  I  mean  just  what  I  say.     Let  me  give  you  an  instance: 

"  In  one  of  the  old  ships  in  which  I  sailed  fresh  water  — 
it  was  the  case  of  all  of  'em,  sir  —  fresh  water  was  a  scarce 
article  even  to  drink.  No  fresh  water  could  be  had  to 
wash  our  clothes.  Salt  water  does  not  clean  clothing 
properly,  no  matter  how  you  work  over  your  duds. 

"  So  our  men  in  the  old  days  actually  used  to  steal  the 
water  out  of  the  breakers,  the  small  casks  kept  in  the  boats 


16      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

at  all  times  in  case  of  emergency,  such  as  shipwreck. 
That  is  what  I  mean  by  committing  crime.  We  actually 
used  to  steal  from  the  most  important  supply  on  the  ship 
just  for  the  sake  of  keeping  ourselves  clean. 

"For  uncleanliness  a  man  would  be  stripped  naked  and 
his  skin  scrubbed  with  sand  and  canvas  —  no  man  ever  for- 
got it  who  experienced  that  —  and  sometimes  with  ki-yar 
brushes,  by  two  husky  bos'n's  mates.  All  hands  soon  got 
the  habit  of  being  clean." 

There  was  much  interest  on  the  ships  as  to  how  the  wire- 
less telephone  would  work  out.  The  system  has  been  in 
operation  only  a  few  months  and  is  largely  in  the  experi- 
mental and  almost  the  infantile  stage. 

All  of  the  battleships  are  equipped  with  the  apparatus 
and  there  was  no  doubt  about  it,  you  could  talk  to  any 
ship  in  the  fleet  from  any  other  and  at  times  the  sounds 
of  the  voice  were  as  clear  as  through  an  ordinary  telephone. 
At  times  they  weren't,  and  there  was  a  division  of  opinion 
among  the  officers  as  to  the  real  value  of  the  invention. 

As  is  the  case  with  the  wireless  telegraph  only  one  ship 
of  a  fleet  can  use  the  telephone  at  one  time.  While  one 
ship  is  talking  to  another  all  the  other  ships  must  keep  out 
of  it  and  even  the  ship  to  which  the  message  is  being  sent 
must  keep  still  and  not  break  in.  The  receiver  must  wait 
until  the  sender  has  got  all  through  with  what  he  has  to 
say  and  then  he  can  talk  back. 

The  sending  and  receiving  machines  use  part  of  the 
apparatus  of  the  wireless  telegraph  outfit.  If  an  attempt 
is  made  to  use  the  telegraph  while  the  telephone  is  in  use  the 
telephone  goes  out  of  commission  at  once  because  it  is  ab- 
solutely^ drowned  out.  The  telegraph  apparatus  uses  so 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  17 

much  greater  power  that  it  is  like  a  loud  voice  overwhelm- 
ing a  soft  one. 

The  operator  at  the  telephone  would  sound  a  signal  with 
some  sort  of  a  buzzer  that  had  the  wail  of  a  lost  cat  in  its 
voice  and  then  he  would  put  a  little  megaphone  into  the 
mouthpiece  of  the  telephone  and  would  say,  sharp  and 
clear : 

"Minnesota !  Minnesota !  Minnesota !  This  is  the  Louis- 
iana !  This  is  the  Louisiana !  This  is  the  Louisiana ! 
We  have  a  press  message  for  you  to  send  to  the  beach. 
We  have  a  press  message  for  you  to  send  to  the  beach. 
Do  you  hear  us?  Do  you  hear  us?  Minnesota!  Min- 
nesota !  This  is  the  Louisiana !  Go  ahead !  Go  ahead !  " 

Sometimes  the  message  would  fail.  Sometimes  the  wire- 
less, one  kind  or  the  other,  would  be  working  on  other  ships. 
Sometimes  the  answer  would  come  at  once  and  the  operator 
would  write  down  the  reply  and  hand  it  over  to  you. 

When  connection  would  be  established  fully  the  operator 
instead  of  reading  off  your  press  message  would  click  it 
off  by  a  telegraph  key  to  the  Minnesota's  operator.  That 
was  to  make  sure  that  he  would  get  it  correctly.  Peculi- 
arly spelled  words  employed  in  cabling  could  not  be  made 
out  by  the  ordinary  operator  and  it  was  taking  chances 
to  spell  them  out  with  the  voice,  and  hence  they  were  sent 
with  the  key,  the  operation  really  being  a  combination  of 
the  wireless  telephone  and  telegraph,  yet  not  at  all  compli- 
cated in  practical  operation. 

Everyone  of  the  electrical  experts  with  the  fleet  is  con- 
vinced that  the  wireless  telephone  is  going  to  be  of  value. 
Most  of  them  have  talked  with  it  clearly  for  distances  of 
at  least  twenty  miles.  One  difficulty  is  in  keeping  it  tuned 


18      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

up  because  the  wireless  telegraph  apparatus  is  also  on 
board. 

Some  of  the  experts  seemed  to  think  that  one  service 
dropped  in  efficiency  if  the  other  was  kept  keyed  up  to  its 
best.  All  were  confident  that  as  soon  as  certain  difficulties 
were  overcome,  difficulties  no  more  serious,  they  said,  than 
the  ordinary  telephone  encountered  in  the  beginning,  the 
apparatus  would  be  workable  as  readily  as  a  telephone  on 
land.  Give  it  time,  was  the  way  the  situation  was  summed 
up. 

Speaking  about  wireless  telegraph,  have  you  heard  the 
latest  wrinkle  in  it,  the  most  up  to  date  use  of  it?  Of 
course  you  haven't.  It  remained  for  the  voyage  of  this 
fleet  to  disclose  it. 

Three  days  out,  every  ship  got  wireless  messages  from 
Father  Neptune  warning  it  to  be  ready  to  receive  him  on 
crossing  the  line.  The  message  was  genuine  because  it 
was  posted  up  and  a  copy  sent  to  the  executive  officer  as 
soon  as  it  was  received.  An  orderly  brought  it  to  him  with 
an  unusually  stiff  salute  while  the  wardroom  was  at  mess. 

It  served  notice  on  all  "  landlubbers,  pollywogs  and  sea 
lawyers  "  that  they  must  be  initiated  and  it  appointed  one 
Fore  Topmast  as  "  official  representative  of  his  Most  Gra- 
cious Majesty  Neptune  Rex,  Ruler  of  the  Royal  Do- 
main." It  called  for  a  meeting  of  the  "faithful  subjects  " 
to  arrange  for  the  ceremonies  of  his  visit. 

The  meeting  on  the  Louisiana  was  held  in  No.  18  case- 
mate, on  the  port  side  of  the  gun  deck  aft.  The  pro- 
ceedings were  secret,  but  it  was  soon  known  that  royal 
policemen,  royal  barbers,  royal  judges,  royal  counsel  and  a 
lot  of  other  royal  functionaries  were  appointed.  The 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  19 

word  went  through  the  ship  that  the  ceremonies  were  to  be 
pretty  strenuous ;  that  no  one  who  had  not  crossed  the 
Equator  would  escape. 

To  show  how  serious  this  was  here  is  a  copy  of  one  of 
Neptune's  messages  and  the  order  that  followed  its  re- 
ception : 

NOTICE. 

The  following  wireless  was  received  at  11  p.m.,  December  19,  1907: 
Fore  Topmast,  Official  Representative  on  Board  the  Good  Ship  Louis- 
iana of  His  Majesty  Neptune  Rex,  Ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain. 
At  the  time  the  Thomas  W.  Lawson  turned  turtle  many  of  my 
trusted  police  were  on  board,  and  as  a  result  they  were  more  or  less 
injured  and  all  of  the  regulation  uniforms  carried   by  them  were 
lost.    Therefore  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  designate  many  of 
my  royal  subjects  on  board  the  good  ship  represented  by  you  to  act 
in  their  stead,  and  you  are  authorized  to  make  the  selection  from 
among  the  niost  faithful  of  those  who  belong  to  the  royal  realm. 

In  making  the  appointments  you  will  consider  their  qualifications 
as  to  severity,  alertness,  seadogness,  their  knowledge  as  to  the  in- 
terior plans  of  the  ship  and  their  ability  to  follow  the  trail  of  any 
landlubber,  pollywog  or  sea  lawyer  who  endeavors  to  escape  the 
initiation  as  prescribed  by  me. 

You  will  report  to  me  by  wireless  the  names  of  the  subjects  se- 
lected, the  position  assigned  and  the  proficiency  of  each  in  order  that 
I  may  forward  their  commission  at  once. 

You  will  have  the  regulation  uniforms  made  up  at  once  and  will 
carry  out  all  orders  in  this  connection.  Your  Majesty, 

NEPTUNE  REX, 
Ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain. 

GENERAL  ORDER  NO.  3. 

In  view  of  the  above  I  have  this  day,  the  20th  of  December,  1907, 
selected  from  among  the  royal  subjects  on  board  the  good  ship 
Louisiana  the  trusted  police  as  directed  by  his  Majesty,  and  those 
selected  have  been  notified  of  their  appointment,  all  of  whom  have 
accepted.  The  attention  of  all  the  royal  subjects  is  invited  to 
paragraph  X,  article  VIIX,  regulations  of  the  royal  realm,  relative 
to  police  duty  and  to  the  punishments  prescribed  for  those  who  fail 


20      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

to  perform  their  duty  properly  and  to  the  landlubber,  pollywog  or 
sea  lawyer  who  tries  to  avoid  the  initiation  as  prescribed  by  his 
Majesty. 

As  noted  in  the  wireless  message  from  his  Majesty  many  of  the 
uniforms  were  lost,  the  trusted  police  selected  will  at  once  visit  his 
Majesty's  tailor,  the  sailmaker's  mate,  and  be  measured  for  the  uni- 
form to  protect  him  from  the  crabs,  eels  and  sharks. 

FORE  TOP,  O.  R.  H.  M.  N.  R. 

Two  days  later  this  wireless  was  received  and  an  order 
issued  complying  with  directions: 

-  -  T-r 

NOTICE. 

4 

The  following  wireless  was  received  at  1  a.  m.,  December  21 : 
Fore  Topmast,  Official  Representative  of  His  Majesty  Neptune  Rex, 

Ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain,  on  Board  the  Good  Ship  Louisiana. 

It  has  been  reported  to  me  by  a  member  of  my  secret  police  on 
board  of  the  good  ship  on  which  you  are  my  representative  that 
there  are  several  landlubbers,  pollywogs  and  sea  lawyers  who  intend 
to  escape  the  initiation  as  prescribed  by  me  by  stowing  themselves 
away;  of  course  this  is  folly  on  their  part,  as  there  is  not  a  hole  or 
corner  on  board  the  good  ship  Louisiana  that  my  faithful  police  and 
subjects  are  not  familiar  with,  and  it  is  therefore  impossible  for 
any  one  to  avoid  escaping  the  royal  initiation.  Those  who  do  try  to 
escape  the  initiation  in  this  manner  will  of  course  be  apprehended, 
and  when  brought  before  me  on  the  day  of  the  ceremonies  they  will 
not  soon  forget  the  trick  they  endeavored  to  play  on  the  royal  realm, 
and  the  dose  they  get  will  be  more  severe  than  any  I  have  as  yet 
prescribed.  Referring  to  the  secret  code  of  the  royal  realm,  the 
following  landlubbers,  pollywogs  and  sea  lawyers  have  been  reported 
to  me  as  mentioned  above:  Gabnokto,  Thnruowk,  Mawjtrqmorptzs, 
Wqquopbchr  and  Ybxquotrdhgle.  You  will  therefore  at  once  issue 
orders  to  the  chief  of  police  to  attend  to  these  crabs  and  to  put 
his  best  men  on  their  trail,  and  if  the  above  is  true  they  will  so  re- 
port to  me  upon  my  arrival  on  board. 

Your  Majesty, 

NEPTUNE  REX, 
Ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain. 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  21 

GENERAL  ORDER  NO.  4. 

This  is  to  inform  the  members  of  the  royal  realm  on  board  the 
good  ship  Louisiana  that  I  have  this  day  issued  orders  to  the  chief 
of  police  to  place  five  of  his  best  men  on  the  trail  of  the  men  as 
mentioned  in  his  Majesty's  wireless  and  whom  you  will  all  know  by 
referring  to  the  royal  secret  code  which  you  have  in  your  possession. 
You  will  also  keep  track  of  these  animals  and  report  to  me  any 
out  of  the  way  move  which  they  should  make.  You  will  also  be  on 
the  lookout  for  any  other  of  these  who  happen  to  be  on  board,  and 
should  they  make  a  false  move  I  will  make  a  special  report  to  his 
Majesty  with  recommendations  which  will  cover  all  defects. 

FORE  TOP, 
Official  Representative  of  His  Majesty. 

After  one  day's  steaming  in  four  columns  the  fleet  was 
deployed  into  two  columns.  For  one  day  the  speed  was 
increased  to  11  knots.  The  little  tender  Yankton,  which 
is  to  be  used  as  the  Admiral's  yacht  in  port  and  for  short 
journeys  and  which  has  been  running  with  the  fleet  off  the 
starboard  side  of  the  flagship,  was  sent  on  ahead  to  get  a 
good  start.  One  day's  steaming  at  11  knots  brought  her 
back  to  us  and  then  the  fleet  resumed  the  slower  speed. 

The  weather  was  fine  throughout.  When  the  trade 
wind  belt  was  encountered  about  300  miles  north  of  St. 
Thomas  the  ships  pitched  a  good  deal,  but  there  was  little 
rolling.  Sea  legs  had  been  acquired  by  that  time  and  few 
on  board  were  incapacitated.  There  was  a  squall  now  and 
then  in  the  Caribbean  with  a  dash  of  rain  for  five  or  ten 
minutes,  but  that  was  nothing. 

On  Friday,  December  20,  the  Missouri  was  detached 
from  the  fleet  to  take  a  sailor  sick  with  peritonitis  to  San 
Juan,  and  later  that  night  the  Illinois  was  sent  to  Culebra 
with  a  sailor  who  had  pneumonia.  Of  course  both  could 
have  been  treated  on  board  ship,  but  Admiral  Evans 


22      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

thought  that  it  would  be  more  humane  to  give  these  men  the 
best  treatment  that  could  be  had  on  shore  and  so  did  not 
hesitate.  Two  great  warships  were  sent  away  from  the 
fleet  formation,  all  for  the  comfort  of  two  men.  The  ships 
joined  the  fleet  again  late  on  Saturday. 

There  were  only  one  or  two  slight  mishaps  to  ship  ma- 
chinery reported  on  the  journey  down,  really  nothing 
worthy  of  note,  a  pump  or  something  of  that  kind  being 
out  of  order.  The  fleet  went  along  in  splendid  style. 
Three  days  out  the  intervals  and  distances  were  almost  per- 
fect at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night.  The  voyage  soon 
became  a  double  procession  of  warships,  with  just  the 
ordinary  routine  going  on. 

On  Sunday,  December  22,  the  first  death  on  the  fleet  was 
reported.  It  was  that  of  Robert  E.  Pipes,  an  ojfdinary  sea- 
man on  the  Alabama,  enlisted  at  Dallas,  Tex.,  in  August 
last.  He  died  of  spinal  meningitis.  Nothing  was  known 
of  the  death  on  the  fleet  until  eight  bells  were  sounded  at 
4  P.  M.  Admiral  Evans  had  gone  ahead  of  the  fleet  at 
noon  to  make  a  four  or  six  hour  test  of  the  new  fuel  called 
briquettes,  and  his  ship  was  out  of  sight.  Admiral 
Thomas  on  the  Minnesota  was  in  command.  His  ship  was 
leading  the  second  squadron,  1,600  yards  to  port. 

The  men  on  watch  saw  the  national  colors  being  raised 
on  the  mainmast.  There  was  a  scurry  on  every  ship  to  get 
up  the  colors.  Every  one  wondered  whether  land  or  a  ship 
had  been  sighted.  Slowly  the  colors  went  up  and  then 
down  to  half  mast.  All  colors  on  the  other  ships  went  to 
half  mast.  The  order  for  half  speed  was  given  and  then 
came  a  signal  to  stop.  The  rails  of  the  ships  were  crowded 
at  once.  Up  and  down  the  columns  the  men  looked  and 


HAMPTON  ROADS  TO  TRINIDAD  23 

then  it  was  seen  that  the  quarterdeck  of  the  Alabama  was 
crowded.  The  order  had  been  given  there :  "  All  hands 
aft  to  bury  the  dead !  " 

The  captain  read  the  burial  service.  An  opening  in  the 
lines  of  the  men  on  the  lee  side  was  made  and  Pipes's  body, 
sewed  in  a  hammock  and  weighted  with  shot,  was  slipped 
gently  over  the  side.  It  made  very  little  splash.  Three  vol- 
leys were  fired  by  the  marines,  taps  were  sounded,  the  colors 
were  run  up  to  the  gaff  on  the  mainmast  on  all  the  ships 
and  standard  speed  was  ordered  again  as  the  flags  came 
down.  The  ceremony  occupied  exactly  nine  minutes  and 
Admiral  Thomas  sent  a  wireless  telegram  to  Admiral  Evans 
notifying  him  of  what  had  been  done.  The  burial  cast  a 
gloom  for  a  few  minutes  on  all  the  ships. 

Much  to  the  regret  of  many  officers  and  men,  Admiral 
Evans  took  the  Virgin  instead  of  the  Anegada  passage 
into  the  Caribbean  and  then  headed  straight  for  Trinidad. 
Many  had  hoped  that  he  would  sail  along  the  chain  of 
islands  and  that  they  might  catch  a  glimpse  at  least  of 
Martinique  and  some  of  the  other  historic  places.  But 
business  is  business  on  a  fleet  as  well  as  on  shore.  Coal 
must  be  saved,  and  the  way  to  go  to  a  place  is  to  go  on  the 
shortest  possible  line  consistent  with  safety. 

So  it  was  that  on  Monday,  December  23,  Trinidad,  just 
off  the  Venezuelan  coast,  came  in  sight,  the  ships  entered 
the  Dragon's  mouth  into  the  Gulf  of  Paria  and  swung 
around  the  point  and  anchored  in  the  roadstead  off  Port  of 
Spain  just  before  sunset. 

The  first  leg  of  the  journey  was  over.  It  was  merely 
the  warming  up  stage.  To-morrow  will  be  Christmas. 
A  bunch  of  mistletoe  is  already  hanging  in  the  Louisiana's 


24      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

wardroom.  Some  of  the  ships  brought  their  Christmas 
trees  and  greens  along.  There'll  be  sports  of  all  kinds  — 
boxing,  rowing  by  officers  and  men,  athletic  contests  on 
ship  —  good  cheer  generally. 

Just  fancy  a  Christmas  with  the  thermometer      at  90 
degrees  I 


CHAPTER  IL 

CHRISTMAS  WITH   THE  FLEET 

Gay  Day  on  the  Battleships  off  Port  of  Spain  — "  Peace  on  Earth " 
the  Motto  on  the  Big  Guns  —  Officers*  Reception  on  the  Minne- 
sota—  Boat  Races  and  Athletic  Sports  for  the  Crew  —  How  the 
Fleet  Charged  Into  Port  —  Men  on  Their  Good  Behavior  — 
Official  Visits  —  Coaling  Day. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

PORT  OF  SPAIN,  TRINIDAD,  Dec.  28. 

THE  officers  of  the  battleship  Minnesota  gave  a  recep- 
tion Christmas  Day  on  board  their  ship  to  all  the  offi- 
cers of  the  other  ships.  The  visitors  were  received 
at  the  gangway  by  the  officer  of  the  deck,  who  had  the 
usual  side  boys  stationed  there  for  the  guests  to  pass  by. 
The  visitors  were  first  presented  to  Capt.  Hubbard,  after 
which  they  paid  their  respects  to  Admiral  Thomas.  Then, 
turning  around  on  the  beautifully  decorated  deck,  they 
saw  depending  from  the  great  12-inch  guns  of  the  after 
turret  a  board  festooned  with  greens,  and  on  it  painted  in 
large  letters: 

"  Peace  on  earth ;  good  will  to  men !  " 
The  first  effect  on  the  visitor  was  to  startle  him.  What 
place  was  there  on  a  warship,  whose  primary  purpose  is 
destruction,  for  such  a  motto  and  in  such  a  place?  Some 
of  the  more  thoughtless  visitors  thought  it  was  satire,  or 
perhaps  a  naval  man's  idea  of  a  grim  joke. 

25 


26      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Those  who  thought  it  a  mockery,  a  satire  or  a  joke 
were  never  more  mistaken.  The  sentiment  was  made  the 
most  prominent  decoration  on  the  ship  in  all  sincerity. 
Scores  of  naval  officers  pointed  to  it  with  pride  and  said 
it  exemplified  truly  the  spirit  of  the  American  Navy.  All 
declared  that  if  there  was  one  thing  more  than  any  other 
which  American  naval  officers  and  all  true  Americans  wished 
for  it  was  world-wide  peace  and  brotherly  love.  It  was 
declared  that  no  better  place  outside  a  Christian  church 
could  be  found  for  its  display  than  on  an  American  war- 
ship. Many  an  officer  said  he  hoped  it  would  always  be 
prominent  on  our  warships  at  the  Christmas  season. 

Certainly  good  will  to  man  was  exemplified  at  the  Christ- 
mas celebration  on  this  fleet.  It  was  the  most  impressive 
Christmas  festival  that  the  nine  civilians  with  the  fleet  ever 
saw.  Here  was  a  city  of  14,000,  exclusively  of  men,  some 
rough,  some  refined,  some  educated,  some  illiterate,  some 
Christian,  some  with  no  religion,  celebrating  the  season  of 
good  cheer  on  sixteen  battleships  in  a  foreign  port  five 
miles  from  shore.  Port  of  Spain  might  as  well  have  been 
5,000  miles  away,  so  far  as  its  influence  was  concerned. 
More  than  one-half  of  the  American  Navy  was  holding  its 
Christmas  festival  in  its  own  way,  with  none  else  to  look  on. 
From  first  to  last  its  spirit  was  kindly ;  from  colors  in  the 
morning  until  the  last  serenading  party,  gliding  over  the 
smooth  water  in  a  floating  city  that  had  a  Venetian  aspect, 
singing  songs  to  the  accompaniment  of  guitars  and  mando- 
lins, disappeared  at  midnight,  the  celebration  was  in  abso- 
lute keeping  with  the  sentiment  of  the  day.  All  was 
merry  and  all  were  merry. 

Perhaps  a  song  sung  by  the  Vermont's  officers  who  were 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  2T 

towed  about  the  fleet  at  night  in  a  sailing  launch  as  they; 
called  on  every  warship  best  reveals  the  tone  of  the  occa- 
sion. They  came  to  the  Louisiana  on  their  last  call  just 
before  midnight.  They  allowed  none  of  the  Louisiana's 
officers  who  had  gone  to  bed  to  dress,  and  pajamas  were 
almost  as  common  as  dress  clothes  in  the  company  that 
assembled  in  the  wardroom.  When  the  visitors  were  going 
away  the  last  song  which  came  across  the  water,  a  song 
which  they  sang  as  they  came  up  the  gangway  strumming 
their  instruments  and  lifting  up  their  voices,  was  this : 

Merry  Christmas!  Merry  Christmas! 

We're  happy  and  well; 
Here  comes  the  Vermont, 

Say,  don't  we  look  swell? 
We're  a  highrolling, 

A  lob-e-dob  crew, 
Merry  Christmas !  Merry  Christmas ! 

Merry  Christmas  to  you! 

Probably  that  lob-e-dob  crew  sang  that  song  two  hundred' 
times  that  night.  It  was  adapted  from  a  new  Naval 
Academy  song.  It  has  a  merry  tune  and  the  jingle  and 
the  swing  of  it  was  infectious.  The  crew  was  highrolling 
only  in  a  naval  sense,  the  rolling  wave  sense,  and  in  five 
minutes  after  they  first  sang  the  song  to  their  hosts  the 
hosts  were  joining  in  with  them.  It  meant  merry  Christ- 
mas to  everybody.  Certainly  this  fleet  had  one. 

For  two  days  boating  parties  had  gone  to  the  heavily 
wooded  shores  of  this  beautiful  island  and  had  brought  in 
greens  for  Christmas.  They  were  mostly  palms  and  bam- 
boo, with  trailing  vines  in  profusion.  When  darkness 
came  on  Christmas  eve  the  work  of  decoration  began. 
Late  into  the  night  some  of  the  men  toiled.  When  day- 


28      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

light  came  every  ship  was  dressed  in  greens.  From  truck 
to  water  line,  on  signal  yards,  rigging,  turrets,  gangways, 
there  were  branches  of  trees  and  festoons  of  vines.  Inside 
the  ships  the  wardrooms  and  cabins  were  elaborately  dec- 
orated. Every  wardroom  had  its  Christmas  tree  and 
around  it  were  grouped  gifts  for  all.  No  one  was  over- 
looked. Christmas  boxes,  brought  from  home  with  orders 
not  to  be  unsealed  until  Christmas  Day,  were  broken  open 
in  every  part  of  the  ship. 

Then  came  a  day  of  visiting,  of  sports  —  rowing  in  the 
morning,  athletics  aboard  ship  in  the  afternoon  and  boxing 
in  the  evening  —  of  the  big  reception  on  the  Minnesota 
and  of  the  merriest  kind  of  dinner  parties  with  the  distri- 
bution of  Santa  Claus  gifts  in  the  evening.  The  gifts 
were  mostly  trinkets,  but  they  had  hits  and  grinds  in  them, 
and  the  presentation  elicited  shouts  of  laughter.  Although 
the  matter  of  rank  was  not  ignored,  apparently  the  high 
and  low  officers,  from  Admiral  and  Captain  down  to  mid- 
shipman, were  seated  on  the  good  fellowship  basis  and  as 
equals.  The  Fourth  Ward  at  the  foot  of  the  table  went 
out  of  business  for  one  night.  The  middies  and  ensigns 
could  burst  into  song  when  they  chose,  and  if  any  one 
forgot  to  say  sir  no  one  thought  it  strange.  Here  on  the 
Louisiana  ten  minutes  after  we  sat  down  to  dinner  came 
an  instance  of  the  feeling  that  makes  the  whole  world  kin 
on  Christmas.  The  youngsters  had  been  singing  the 
Louisiana  song,  the  chorus  of  which  runs  thus: 

Lou,  Lou,  I  love  you; 
I  love  you,  that's  true; 
Don't  sigh,  don't  cry, 
I'll  see  you  in  the  morning; 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  29 

Dream,  dream,  dream  of  me 

And  I'll  dream  of  you, 

My  Louisiana,  Louisiana  Lou. 

Capt.  Wainwright  had  been  toying  with  a  tin  whistle 
which  he  had  pulled  from  a  bonbon.  Stealthily  he  put  it 
to  his  lips  and  blew  it  loud,  and  then  that  eye  of  his, 
which  has  the  piercing  power  of  a  12-inch  shell,  grew 
bright  with  the  light  of  geniality  and  kindness  that  lie 
deep  set  and  yet  overflowing  behind  it,  and  he  was  a  young- 
ster, too.  The  Fourth  Ward  men  might  sing  "  Louisiana 
Lou,"  but  he  was  willing  to  show  that  he  could  blow  a  tin 
whistle  when  the  occasion  demanded  it. 

One  might  fill  columns  with  the  songs  that  were  sung. 
There  is  room  for  the  chorus  of  just  one  more.  The  game 
is  for  about  one-half  of  the  company  to  sing  the  chorus 
and  just  before  the  finish  the  others  shout  an  interrogatory 
of  astonishment  at  the  top  of  their  voices.  The  chorus 
runs: 

Dreamin',  dreamin',  dreamin'  of  dat  happy  Ian,' 

Where  rivers  ob  beer  aboun', 
Where  big  gin  rickeys  fill  de  air 
And  highballs  roll  on  de  groun'. 
Great  shout: 

What!  Highballs  roll  on  de  groun'. 
Melody : 

Yas,  highballs  roll  on  de  groun'. 

The  merriment  on  the  Louisiana  was  not  exceptional. 
It  was  a  mere  copy  of  what  was  going  on  in  sixteen  ward- 
rooms. Every  ship  was  sure  it  had  the  merriest  dinner 
and  the  merriest  time  all  around  in  the  fleet,  and  that  was 
true  strictly. 

The  bluejackets  had  their  own  fun,  and  they  yielded  to 


30      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

none  in  their  belief  that  they  had  the  best  time  of  all.  Of 
course  they  were  right.  Look  at  this  menu  that  Uncle 
Sam  provided  for  their  dinner : 

Cream  of  Celery  Soup 

Roast  Turkey 

Roast  Ham 

Sage  Dressing  Giblet  Gravy 

Cranberry  Sauce 
Mashed  Potatoes  Lima   Beans 

Peach  Pie 

Mixed  Nuts  Raisins 

Coffee. 

And  here  is  the  music  that  Bandmaster  Cariana  pro- 
vided : 

1  March "  The  Man  Behind  the  Gun  " Sousa 

2  Overture. . ."  The  Bridal  Rose  " Lavaller 

3  Waltz "I  See  Thee  Again " Estrada 

4  Selection. . ."  Woodland  "    Luders 

5  Habanera. ."  Escamilla  "    Redla 

Star  Spangled  Banner. 

And  didn't  the  first  class  men  have  liberty  to  go  ashore? 
Didn't  they  come  back  loaded  down  with  souvenir  postal 
cards,  baskets  of  fruit,  parrots  and  monkeys?  And  wasn't 
every  man  of  them  able  to  toe  a  seam  as  he  answered  to  his 
name  on  the  liberty  list?  If  there  was  a  suspicion  of  a 
rolling  gait  in  two  or  three  couldn't  they  lay  it  to  the  heat  ? 
Certain  it  was  that  not  one  of  them  had  drunk  any  of  that 
stuff  down  here  that  they  call  biograph  whiskey,  the  kind 
that  makes  you  see  moving  pictures,  for  the  only  moving 
pictures  that  any  of  them  saw  that  night  were  the  dozen 
sparring  matches  and  two  wrestling  contests  on  the  quarter 
deck,  where  the  bluejackets  were  piled  high  on  high  under 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  31 

the  awning  clear  up  over  the  turret  to  the  after  bridge  — 
as  packed  a  house  for  the  space  as  Caruso  ever  sang  to. 

And  didn't  John  Eglit,  the  Louisiana's  American  champ- 
ion naval  boxer,  who  knocked  out  the  English  champion, 
Leans  of  the  Good  Hope,  last  May,  take  on  a  man  from 
another  ship  and  promise  only  to  tap  him  and  not  knock 
him  out,  so  that  the  boys  could  admire  him  and  cheer  him? 
Eglit  is  a  master  at  arms,  a  ship  policeman  at  other  times, 
and  it  isn't  safe  to  say  things  to  him,  even  flattering  things, 
but  here  the  boys  could  cheer  him  and  he  couldn't  answer 
back.  And  didn't  the  officers  sit  close  to  the  ropes  just 
where  President  Roosevelt  sat  on  his  trip  to  Panama?  And 
didn't  Midshipman  McKittrick,  the  recent  champion  boxer 
of  the  Naval  Academy,  referee  the  bouts  ?  And  didn't  Mid- 
shipman Brainerd,  the  well  known  oarsman  of  the  Naval 
Academy  not  long  ago,  act  as  time  keeper?  And  it  made 
no  sort  of  difference  to  him  that  he  sat  next  to  a  negro  coal 
passer ! 

And  then  didn't  the  men  who  didn't  have  liberty  have 
comic  athletic  sports  in  the  afternoon  ?  You  bet  they  did ! 
"  Spud  "  races,  obstacle  races,  sack  races,  three-legged  and 
wheelbarrow  races ;  lemon  races,  where  the  contestants  held 
a  lemon  in  a  spoon  between  their  teeth  and  the  first  man 
that  crossed  the  line  in  the  running  won ;  shoe  races,  where 
a  man's  shoes  were  tied  in  a  bag  and  shaken  up  and  he  had 
to  open  the  bag  after  a  run  and  then  put  them  on  and  lace 
them  up,  the  winner  to  be  the  first  man  reporting  to  the 
referee.  It  was  all  fun  and  the  bullies  shouted  themselves 
hoarse  over  it.  What  matter  if  a  dozen  men  reported  at 
the  sick  call  the  next  morning  with  feet  so  sore  that  they 
could  hardly  walk  from  the  running  in  bare  feet  on  the 


32      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET; 

hard  decks?  Oh,  yes,  the  bluejackets  had  the  best  time 
of  all! 

And  then  there  was  rowing  in  the  morning.  You  who 
have  seen  the  Poughkeepsie  and  New  London  contests  may 
think  you  have  seen  great  rowing  spectacles,  and  so  you 
have,  but  you  want  to  see  rowing  contests  in  a  fleet  of 
14,000  Jack  Tars  to  know  what  enthusiasm  is.  The  men 
lined  the  rails,  turrets,  bridges,  masts  and  tops  and  danced 
and  yelled  like  Comanches  as  the  crews  passed  down  the  line 
of  ships.  They  yelled  just  as  loud  when  fourteen  officers' 
crews  contested.  A  pretty  incident  occurred  after  this 
race.  There  had  been  great  rivalry  between  the  officers  of 
the  Vermont  and  the  Louisiana.  Each  thought  it  would 
win.  Neither  did,  the  Louisiana  coming  in  fourth  and  the 
Vermont  fifth.  The  Vermont  crew  immediately  rowed  to 
the  Louisiana  and  the  two  crews  in  their  rowing  clothes  sat 
in  the  wardroom  and  passed  the  bowl  around.  When  the 
Vermont's  men  went  home  the  entire  crew  of  the  Louisiana 
gathered  at  the  rail  and  cheered.  The  Vermont  men  tossed 
their  oars  and  then  the  crew  sang  their  Merry  Christmas 
song,  the  first  of  the  200  or  more  times  that  it  was  heard 
by  the  fleet. 

The  reception  on  the  Minnesota  was  also  memorable. 
Henry  Reuterdahl,  the  artist,  who  was  with  the  fleet  to 
make  pictures  of  it,  had  carte  blanche  in  the  matter  of 
decorations.  The  "  Peace  on  Earth  "  emblem  was  his  idea. 
He  canopied  the  wardroom  with  flags.  He  put  up  shells 
and  revolvers  and  cutlasses  and  other  implements  of  war  in 
effective  places  and  he  mingled  the  bunting  in  color  and 
arrangement  so  deftly  that  the  naval  men  were  astonished 
over  it.  Old  friends  in  the  fleet  gave  greetings.  It  was 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  33 

brought  out  in  one  of  the  conversations  that  Rear  Admiral 
Evans,  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  fleet,  was  the  only 
man  in  the  fleet  who  fought  in  the  civil  war.  And  it  was  also 
revealed  that  he  was  in  the  greatest  pageant  of  warships 
that  ever  left  Hampton  Roads  before  this  one.  That  was 
in  December,  1864,  almost  forty-two  years  to  the  day  that 
the  present  fleet  left.  That  fleet  went  out  to  capture  Fort 
Fisher,  where  Admiral  Evans  was  wounded  and  where,  with 
a  revolver,  he  prevented  a  surgeon  from  cutting  off  his  right 
leg.  There  were  14,000  men  in  that  fleet,  about  the  same 
number  as  in  this.  There  were  sixty  naval  vessels  and  the 
rest  were  ninety  transports  under  command  of  Gen.  B.  F. 
Butler.  Admiral  Porter  was  the  naval  officer  in  charge. 
It  took  the  fleet  from  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  after 
4  in  the  afternoon  to  pass  Cape  Henry.  This  fleet  did  it 
in  two  hours.  When  Admiral  Evans  was  asked  about  it 
he  said  that  the  little  tender  Yankton,  which  goes  with  this 
fleet  for  use  on  ceremonious  or  other  useful  occasions,  could 
have  whipped  that  entire  fleet  of  itself.  Its  modern  small 
guns  —  3-inch  ones  —  could  shoot  so  far  that  it  could  lie 
completely  out  of  the  range  of  any  of  the  guns  on  that 
fleet  and  simply  bombard  the  vessels  to  pieces. 

But  to  return  to  Trinidad.  The  Venezuelan  coast  had 
been  in  sight  for  an  hour  on  Monday ,December  23,  before 
Trinidad  was  made  out  a  little  after  noon.  A  haze  ob- 
scured things  on  shore.  Gradually  a  dark  lump  on  the 
horizon  took  shape,  then  it  assumed  color,  a  deep  green, 
and  then  on  the  highest  point,  something  like  400  feet 
above  the  sea,  a  white  needle  pierced  the  haze  in  the  sky.  It 
was  the  lighthouse  that  points  the  way  to  the  four  en- 
trances into  the  Gulf  of  Paria  from  the  Caribbean,  called 


34      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  Dragon's  Mouths.  The  lighthouse  was  a  visible  sign 
of  the  care  of  British  for  shipping.  It  is  said  to  be  one 
of  the  best  in  any  of  England's  colonial  possessions. 

Admiral  Evans  headed  his  ships  toward  the  narrow  en- 
trance to  the  east  of  the  main  one.  It  is  called  Boca  de 
Navios,  one  of  the  many,  reminders  of  the  old  Spanish  days 
before  England  swept  down  through  these  waters.  The 
Admiral  had  ordered  his  ships  in  single  file  of  the  open  order 
or  wing  and  wing  formation.  Approaching  more  closely 
he  ordered  exact  column,  one  directly  behind  another,  at  a 
distance  of  400  yards.  When  within  three  miles  of  the  en- 
trance he  veered  off  to  take  the  large  passage  to  the  west, 
Boca  Grande.  Then  he  made  a  sharp  turn  after  he  had 
cleared  the  entrance  to  the  gulf.  For  some  time  he  stood 
in  toward  the  shore. 

Then  came  another  turn  to  the  south,  and  then  followed 
what  Admiral  Evans  said  afterward  was  one  of  the  finest 
naval  sights  he  had  ever  witnessed.  Orders  had  been  sig- 
nalled for  the  four  ships  of  the  first  division  of  the  fleet 
to  turn  to  the  east  and  come  up  the  bay  of  Port  of  Spain 
in  parallel  formation.  The  other  divisions  were  ordered 
to  follow  the  same  plan  when  they  arrived  in  position. 
Here  was  a  long  line  of  warships  that  had  been  turning 
and  twisting  around  headlands  and  in  muddy  waters,  going 
in  single  file,  as  if  headed  for  the  Serpent's  Mouth,  the 
other  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Paria.  A  flag  fluttered  from 
the  Connecticut's  signal  yards.  At  once  the  first  four 
ships  turned  at  right  angles.  You  could  have  run  a  tape 
line  across  the  bows  of  the  Connecticut  to  the  Louisiana 
and  found  the  Kansas  and  Vermont  exactly  on  the  mark. 
The  change  in  the  course  came  so  suddenly  that  it  made 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  35 

even  naval  men  jump.  Like  four  chariot  horses  the  ships 
stood  in  as  if  on  a  battle  charge. 

Port  of  Spain  could  just  be  made  out  on  the  beach  eight 
miles  away.  The  ships  were  pointed  directly  for  it,  and 
if  they  had  intended  to  bombard  it  they  could  scarcely  have 
been  more  aggressive  looking  in  the  way  they  swung  into 
that  bay.  The  second  division  kept  on  in  the  lead  of  the 
single  file  of  ships  until  they  reached  places  directly  behind 
the  ships  of  the  first  division.  Then  they  made  a  dramatic 
swing  also.  The  third  and  fourth  division  in  turn  did  the 
same  thing. 

The  fleet  was  then  in  four  columns  headed  directly  for 
the  beautiful  little  port  with  its  shallow  harbor.  As  long 
as  standard  speed  of  11  knots  was  maintained  the  four 
leading  vessels  kept  on  a  line  that  was  as  well  dressed  as 
a  squad  of  fours  in  a  military  company.  For  two  miles 
this  formation  kept  up.  Then  half  speed  was  signalled. 
The  Vermont  and  Kansas  being  new  in  fleet  evolutions  and 
not  yet  being  standardized  completely  as  to  speed  revolu- 
tions, did  not  keep  the  line  so  well,  but  Admiral  Evans  was 
not  displeased  and  said  they  did  very  well.  The  Vermont 
fell  back  nearly  half  a  length  by  the  time  slow  speed  was 
ordered  and  the  engines  were  stopped  finally.  The  signal 
to  come  to  anchor  was  hoisted  and  when  it  went  up  sixteen 
mud  hooks  splashed  into  the  bay  simultaneously.  Before 
it  had  been  slowed  down  the  Louisiana  had  received  its 
second  special  commendation  for  smart  manoeuvring  from 
the  Admiral. 

"  Well  done,  Louisiana,'*  the  flags  on  the  Admiral's 
bridge  said  for  all  the  rest  of  the  fleet  to  see,  and  Capt. 
Wainwright  and  his  officers  took  it  modestly.  The  Louis- 


36      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

iana  had  been  the  only  ship  in  the  fleet  to  receive  this  signal 
and  this  was  the  second  time  it  had  come. 

Long  before  the  fleet  had  come  to  anchor  it  was  noticed 
that  the  torpedo  flotilla,  which  had  started  from  Hampton 
Roads  about  two  weeks  before  the  fleet,  was  in  the  harbor. 
Mishaps  to  the  Lawrence  had  brought  the  flotilla  back  that  ? 
morning  after  it  had  gone  eighty  miles  on  the  leg  to  Parja. 
The  mishaps  were  not  very  serious,  but  it  was  better  to 
make  repairs  in  a  port  than  at  sea  and  so  Lieut.  Cone, 
in  charge,  had  come  back.  The  supply  ships  and  colliers 
were  also  in  port. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  full  significance  of  all  these  ships 
became  known.  Here  was  a  sight  that  no  other  foreign 
port  in  the  world  had  ever  seen.  Twenty-nine  ships  were  fly- 
ing the  American  flag  at  once.  There  were  really  thirty- 
one  connected  with  the  navy,  directly  and  indirectly,  in 
port,  but  two  of  the  colliers  flew  foreign  flags.  Far  in 
toward  the  city,  however,  were  three  more  vessels  flying  our 
flag,  one  a  brigantine,  another  a  small  steamship,  and 
another  a  little  vessel  that  plies  up  the  Orinoco.  So  thirty- 
two  specimens  of  Old  Glory  fluttered  in  the  breeze  just  be- 
fore the  sun  went  down. 

The  anchorage  Admiral  Evans  selected  was  fully  five 
miles  from  "  the  beach,"  as  the  naval  man  puts  it.  No 
ships  can  go  directly  to  the  landing  places  in  Port  of  Spain 
and  only  small  ones  can  approach  within  half  a  mile.  As 
soon  as  the  anchors  were  down  the  Admiral  signalled  that 
no  one  was  to  go  ashore  until  he  had  gone  the  next  morning 
to  pay  his  official  respects  to  Sir  Henry  M.  Jackson,  K.  C. 
M.  G.,  the  Governor-General.  It  was  nearly  8  o'clock 
that  night  when  the  health  officer  gave  pratique,  much  to 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  37 

the  relief  of  some  ships,  because  there  had  been  a  few 
cases  of  measles  and  some  other  diseases  that  are  classed 
as  contagious,  but  great  care  had  been  taken  in  the  matters 
of  isolation  and  disinfecting.  Indeed,  every  patient  in  the 
fleet  was  convalescent.  It  was  a  relief  to  Admiral  Evans 
also  to  learn  that  there  had  not  been  a  case  of  yellow  fever 
in  Trinidad  for  six  weeks.  Accordingly  he  gave  orders  to 
allow  liberty  to  all  the  first  class  men  in  the  fleet. 

The  next  morning  Admirals  Evans,  Thomas,  Sperry  and 
Emory  went  ashore  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  Governor- 
General.  He  had  sent  carriages  with  a  guard  of  honor  to 
escort  them  to  the  Government  House.  Port  of  Spain  is 
not  a  saluting  port,  because  no  English  garrison  is  kept 
here,  and  therefore  no  guns  boomed  on  arrival. 

Admiral  Evans  exhibited  great  tact  and  showed  the  nicest 
regard  for  the  situation  when  he  asked  Governor-General 
Jackson  to  return  his  call  that  afternoon  at  the  Queen's 
Park  Hotel.  The  Governor  and  the  Admiral  are  old 
friends.  The  Governor  is  not  strong,  having  returned  re- 
cently from  London,  where  he  underwent  a  surgical  opera- 
tion. A  journey  of  five  miles  out  to  the  ships  in  the  blaz- 
ing sun,  Admiral  Evans  thought,  would  be  too  much  for 
him  and  the  Governor  appreciated  thoroughly  the  Ad- 
miral's solicitude  for  his  health. 

Soon  the  officers  and  liberty  men  began  to  come  ashore. 
Trinidad  is  no  new  place  to  many  officers.  It  lies  at  the 
foot  of  a  splendid  range  of  the  St.  Anne  Mountains  and 
it  is  heavy  with  the  odors  of  tropical  verdure.  It  has  been 
called  the  most  attractive  of  all  British  West  Indian 
colonies.  Its  streets  are  kept  beautifully,  its  negro  con- 
stabulary are  efficient  and  polite.  Its  schools  are  fine. 


\ 


38      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Those  who  had  never  visited  the  place  were  delighted  with 
its  appearance,  its  balconied  houses,  its  abundance  of 
flowers  and  vines  creeping  over  walls  and  up  the  sides  of 
houses,  its  great  department  stores,  which  send  the  heads 
of  departments  to  Paris  and  London  every  year  to  get 
the  latest  in  fashions;  its  motley  population  of  English, 
Spanish,  French  and  the  thousands  of  Hindu  coolies  that 
are  brought  over  here  under  contract  to  work  on  the  plan- 
tations. Hindu  beggars  were  on  the  streets  and  Hindu 
women,  well  gowned  and  clean  as  an  American  warship, 
were  in  evidence.  Some  wore  rings  in  their  noses  and  the 
more  prosperous  had  their  arms  bejewelled  up  to  the  el- 
bows with  silver  bracelets  and  other  trinkets. 

But  let  the  truth  be  known!  Trinidad  didn't  warm 
up  to  the  fleet  at  all,.  It  regarded  it  with  apparent  in- 
difference. Officially  nothing  could  have  been  more  cordial 
than  its  reception.  Popularly  Port  of  Spain  didn't  seem 
to  give  a  hang,  except  the  fruit  vendors,  especially  the 
alligator  pear  men,  and  the  merchants  who  had  things  to 
sell.  About  three  American  flags  flew  over  shops.  Ameri- 
can fleets  have  been  welcomed  here  before  with  lawn  parties 
and  dances  and  great  receptions.  There  was  one  recep- 
tion at  the  Constabulary  Barracks,  and  very  cordial  it  was 
too,  but  the  town  didn't  even  take  the  trouble  to  come  down 
to  the  waterfront  to  gaze  over  the  water  and  see  what  six- 
teen battleships  looked  like  in  the  distance.  The  ships 
may  have  been  too  far  out.  Or  perhaps  it  was  because 
the  races  were  to  come  on  during  the  last  three  days  stay 
of  the  fleet.  It  was  hardly  the  climate,  because  that  never 
interfered  with  enthusiasm  over  an  American  fleet  before, 
notably  when  Admiral  Sampson  dropped  in  here  in  1899. 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  39 

Let  it  all  go  with  the  statement  that  on  shore  every  one 
seemed  glad  to  greet  the  Americans,  even  if  the  town 
seemed  cold.  Some  of  the  officers  renewed  old  acquaint- 
ances socially  and  several  parties  of  friends  visited  the 
ships.  One  young  officer  came  back  with  a  story  that 
pleased  the  fleet.  He  met  a  charming  young  English 
woman  who  said  that  she  had  travelled  a  good  deal  and 
had  been  in  New  York  only  three  months  ago.  The  young 
officer  perked  up  at  once. 

"  I  suppose  you  saw  the  Great  White  Way  in  New 
York?  "  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed,"  was  the  innocent  reply.  "  Mother 
and  I  went  to  see  it  one  Sunday  morning." 

"  It  is  beautiful,"  said  the  officer. 

"  Very,"  was  the  response. 

Some  of  the  visitors  historically  inclined  recalled  that 
Columbus  visited  this  place  and  named  it  in  honor  of  the 
Trinity ;  others  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  had  made  this  his 
headquarters  for  a  long  time;  still  others  that  Cortez  took 
leave  of  Velasquez  here  when  he  started  out  on  his  conquest 
of  Mexico.  The  commercially  inclined  went  to  visit  the 
famous  and  malodorous  Pitch  Lake,  from  which  Raleigh 
smeared  his  ships  and  which  supplies  a  large  part  of  the 
asphalt  for  American  use.  Others  were  glad  to  learn  that 
they  have  struck  oil  here  and  that  it  is  expected  that  this 
island  will  soon  become  the  chief  centre  for  a  great  British 
oil  industry. 

But  there  were  those  in  the  fleet  who  didn't  care  for 
Columbus  or  Raleigh  or  Cortez  or  asphalt  or  oil.  One 
was  an  old  bos'n's  mate.  He  was  down  here  in  the  late 
'80s  on  the  old  sloop  Saratoga.  He  had  a  yarn  to  spin 


40      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

and  it  was  brought  out  by  the  fact  that  on  the  day  of  the 
fleet's  arrival  two  men  from  one  of  the  torpedo  flotilla  had 
drifted  away  from  their  vessel  without  oars  and  had  been 
carried  out  of  sight  before  their  absence  was  noticed.  It 
was  feared  that  they  had  been  lost  in  the  Gulf,  but  the 
rough  water  calmed  at  night  and  they  drifted  ashore  and 
came  back  at  daylight  the  next  morning. 

The  bos'n's  mate  told  how  a  party  of  apprentices  and 
three  marines  started  out  from  the  Saratoga  in  a  sailing 
cutter  one  fine  morning  to  go  to  Pitch  Lake.  They  had 
not  gone  more  than  four  miles  before  a  heavy  sea  came  up 
and  a  great  gust  capsized  the  cutter. 

There  were  many  sharks  in  the  water  and  three  of  the 
party  were  either  drowned  or  eaten  by  sharks.  The  others 
clambered  on  the  overturned  boat  and  were  helpless,  as  the 
craft  was  drifting  out  to  sea.  Then  it  was  that  one  of 
those  men  in  the  navy  who  can  no  more  help  showing 
bravery  when  it  is  demanded  than  they  can  help  breathing, 
arose  to  the  situation.  He  was  Shorty  Allen,  an  apprentice, 
and  he  declared  that  he  would  try  to  swim  ashore  to  get 
help.  The  others  told  him  he  must  not  do  it,  but  Shorty 
just  laughed  at  them.  They  said  the  sharks  would  get 
him  and  that  it  was  madness  to  try  it.  Again  Shorty  said 
he  would  go.  They  would  all  be  lost,  he  said,  if  they  got 
no  help  and  it  was  better  that  one  man  should  lose  his  life 
than  a  dozen. 

Nothing  could  change  Shorty's  determination.  He 
threw  off  his  clothes  and  leaped  into  the  sea.  His  com- 
panions watched  him  buffeting  the  waves  for  an  hour  or 
so  and  then  he  was  lost  to  view.  The  sharks  hung  about 
the  overturned  boat  and  probably  that  fact  saved  Shorty. 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  41 

He  reached  land  in  four  or  five  hours  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted. After  a  rest  on  the  beach  he  hunted  up  some 
fishermen,  whom  he  induced  to  go  after  his  shipmates. 
They  were  all  rescued  and  regained  the  Saratoga  the  next 
morning. 

"  I  tell  ye,  boys,"  said  the  bos'n's  mate,  "  I  have  a  likin* 
for  this  place.  I  was  one  of  that  party  and  Shorty,  saved 
my  life  here.  I  don't  know  where  Shorty  is  now.  He  was 
commended  for  his  bravery.  He  said  it  didn't  amount  to 
nothing,  modest  like.  I  don't  know  whether  he's  alive.  If 
he's  dead,  God  rest  his  soul !  " 

The  chief  incident  of  the  stay  of  the  fleet  in  this  port, 
aside  from  the  exchange  of  official  courtesies,  was  the  coal- 
ing of  the  ships.  That  is  the  dirtiest  work  that  can  be 
done  about  any  ship,  and  to  an  American  warship  in  its 
white  dress  it  seems  almost  like  profanation.  It's  a  task 
that  the  navy  has  learned  how  to  do  with  despatch  and 
one  might  almost  say  with  neatness.  At  daybreak  the  next 
morning  after  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  the  colliers  steamed 
up  slowly  to  the  sides  of  the  ships  of  the  first  division.  All 
had  been  made  ready  for  them.  Tackle  and  coal  bags  and 
shovels  and  running  trucks  had  been  prepared  while  the 
ships  were  making  port.  All  hands  turned  to.  One  sec- 
tion from  each  division  of  each  ship  was  sent  into  the  hold 
of  the  collier.  Four  such  sections  were  employed  in  the 
collier  at  once.  The  coaling  bags,  each  capable  of  holding 
800  pounds,  were  thrown  over  and  then  the  dust  began  to 
fly.  All  the  ventilating  machinery  of  the  ship  had  been 
stopped  and  canvas  had  covered  all  the  openings  so  that  as 
little  of  the  dust  as  possible  could  find  its  way  into  any 
other  place  than  the  bunkers.  The  chutes  to  the  bunkers 


49      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

were  all  open.  The  marines  and  the  men  of  the  powder 
division  were  on  the  turrets  and  other  places  to  expedite 
things.  Down  in  the  coal  bunkers  the  engineer  division 
were  put  at  stowing  the  coal  away  smoothly  and  evenly. 
The  bunkers  on  such  occasions  in  the  tropics  are  veritable 
black  holes  and  the  men  have  to  be  relieved  frequently. 

Jack  makes  the  best  of  a  bad  job,  and  coaling  ship  il- 
lustrates this.  The  men  got  out  their  old  coal  stowing 
clothes  that  once  were  white  and  theoretically  still  are  white. 
Some  of  them  got  old  discarded  marine  helmets  for  head- 
gear. Some  tied  handkerchiefs  around  their  heads,  the 
brighter  the  color  the  better.  Some  had  no  head  covering. 
Some  rolled  up  the  leg  of  one  trouser  just  for  the  fun  of 
the  thing.  Some  wore  socks  over  their  shoes  —  anything 
to  make  things  lively  and  get  that  coal  in  at  the  rate  of 
100  tons  an  hour. 

The  bags  were  filled,  attached  to  the  whip  —  as  the  der- 
rick hoist  is  called  —  and  swung  up  to  the  deck.  There 
the  bags  were  seized  and  those  intended  for  stowage  on  the 
side  next  to  the  collier  were  dumped  quickly.  Those  in- 
tended for  the  other  side  of  the  ship  were  placed  on  little 
trucks  and  pulled  across  the  deck  and  then  dumped.  It 
was  lively  work,  step  and  go,  and  laughter  and  good  cheer 
enlivened  the  task.  The  ship's  band  was  placed  on  the 
after  bridge,  where  it  played  quicksteps  and  jigs  and  made 
the  men  run  and  heave  and  shovel  and  toss  as  if  coaling 
ship  was  the  greatest  fun  in  the  world. 

The  decks  were  sanded  so  that  the  dust  would  mingle 
with  the  sand  and  not  grime  the  woodwork.  After  the 
coaling  was  over  the  gear  was  stowed  away  first.  Then 
the  men  washed  away  the  dirt  from  their  hands  and  around 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  43 

their  mouths,  noses  and  eyes  and  all  turned  to,  baboonlike 
in  appearance,  to  clean  ship.  Sides  were  washed  down  and 
decks  scrubbed.  In  two  or  three  hours  no  one  would  have 
known  that  the  ship  had  been  in  a  black  dirt  storm.  Then 
the  men  scrubbed  their  clothes  and  finally  they  scrubbed 
themselves,  got  into  clean  clothes  and  the  task  was  over. 

Four  days  were  occupied  with  this  work  for  the  fleet. 
The  last  ship  to  be  coaled  was  the  Maine,  for  that  ship  is 
the  greatest  coal  eater  in  the  fleet.  She  was  reserved  to 
the  last,  so  that  she  would  have  the  largest  supply  possible 
on  board  for  the  3,000  mile  run  to  Rio.  The  Maine  was 
coaled  on  Saturday  and  it  depended  upon  the  alertness 
with  which  it  was  done  whether  the  fleet  was  to  sail  for  Rio 
at  sunset  on  Saturday  or  Sunday. 

The  supply  ships  had  little  to  do  in  this  port  because 
the  ships  were  not  in  need  of  much  provisioning.  Most  of 
the  ships  took  meat  from  the  "  beef  ships,"  as  the  sailors 
call  the  supply  vessels,  but  it  was  only  in  limited  quanti- 
ties. 

The  torpedo  flotilla  got  under  way  on  Christmas  morn- 
ing. The  bluejackets  were  sorry  to  see  it  go  on  that  day, 
for  they  knew  they  were  going  to  have  fun  and  wished  their 
mates  on  the  flotilla  could  also  join  in  the  merriment.  The 
Yankton  and  Panther,  the  latter  a  repair  ship,  sailed  two 
days  later.  The  supply  ships  Culgoa  and  Glacier  were 
kept  to  go  along  with  the  fleet  because  they  can  steam 
easily  at  the  rate  of  11  knots. 

Up  to  the  last  day  of  the  stay  in  port  liberty  parties 
were  going  ashore  from  the  ships  every  day.  To  the 
credit  of  Jack  let  it  be  said  that  he  conducted  himself  with 
the  dignity  that  becomes  the  true  American  man-o'-war's 


44      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

man.  Of  course  he  patronized  the  saloons.  Now  and  then 
one  would  stagger  a  little  on  coming  to  his  ship.  There 
were  no  rows,  and  the  authorities  had  no  complaints  to 
make  of  unruly  behavior.  Before  each  party  went  ashore 
the  executive  officer  on  each  ship  read  to  them  the  order  of 
Admiral  Evans  allowing  them  liberty  to  the  fullest  extent 
in  keeping  with  discipline  and  warning  them  to  be  on  their 
good  behavior.  The  Admiral  said  that  if  any  unhappy 
incident  occurred  ashore  he  would  be  obliged  to  stop  all  lib- 
erty. The  men  heeded  the  warning.  They  visited  the 
shops,  bought  postal  cards  by  the  thousands,  patronized 
jewelry  stores,  got  all  the  pets  they  wanted,  swaggered 
through  the  middle  of  the  streets  and  gave  Port  of  Spain 
such  a  coloring  in  local  aspect  as  it  had  never  seen  before. 
Three  or  four  baseball  games  were  played  on  the  great 
park's  green.  The  one  great  stunt  the  bluejackets  enjoyed 
most  was  to  hire  a  hack  by  the  hour  and  ride  around  the 
streets.  They  wrangled  with  the  cabbies  about  fares,  paid 
out  their  good  money  —  it  was  payday  on  the  ships  the 
day  before  they  arrived  —  and  growled  as  true  sailormen 
should  growl  when  they  got  English  money  in  change  for 
their  own  gold  and  American  notes.  Trinidad  is  a  place 
where  prices  are  quoted  mostly  in  dollars  and  cents,  and  yet 
the  medium  of  exchange  is  pounds,  shillings  and  pence. 
Most  of  the  shops  take  American  money  at  its  face  value. 
The  shopkeepers  were  alive  to  the  situation  and  they 
made  money  from  the  call  at  their  port.  They  were  ac- 
commodating and  profited  by  it.  Hundreds  of  Panama 
hats  were  purchased.  They  were  bought  by  men  who 
would  not  think  of  purchasing  such  hats  at  home  because 
of  the  high  prices.  The  American  hatters,  therefore,  have 


CHRISTMAS  WITH  THE  FLEET  45 

lost  little  by  the  transactions  except  the  sale  of  ordinary 
straw  hats  in  the  summer  time  for  two  or  three  years. 

The  races  in  the  great  oval  in  front  of  the  Queen's  Park 
Hotel  were  the  chief  social  event  of  the  stay.  Thousands 
attended  them  and  the  Yankee  propensity  to  bet  made  its 
effect  felt.  Some  of  the  boys  were  a  little  slow  in  grasp- 
ing the  details  of  the  mutual  pool  system.  A  few  of  them 
won  money,  but  most  of  them  didn't.  There  were  all  sorts 
of  gambling  devices,  wheels  and  cards  and  the  like,  in  oper- 
ation near  the  betting  ring,  and  it  was  like  throwing  your 
money  away  to  go  against  them.  But  Jack  didn't  mind 
that.  One  of  the  bluejackets  from  the  Ohio  said  he  was 
going  to  bet  all  he  had  in  the  hope  of  beating  the  "  bloom- 
ing British,"  because  some  of  the  English  bluejackets  once 
had  difficulty  in  pronouncing  the  word  Ohio.  They  said 
the  name  of  the  Ohio  was  "  Ho  and  a  Haich  and  a  bloom- 
ing 10,"  and  they  didn't  know  what  to  call  a  ship  named 
O  H  and  10.  The  American  bluejacket  will  not  try  to  get 
revenge  again,  for  he  lost. 

After  the  races  the  Queen's  Park  Hotel  was  jammed  for 
the  rest  of  the  day  and  evening.  Patrons  of  the  bar  were 
lined  up  six  deep.  It  was  as  difficult  to  get  a  table  on  the 
veranda,  or  even  inside,  as  it  is  to  get  one  on  New  Year's 
eve  in  New  York.  All  the  rest  of  Trinidad  goes  to  sleep 
with  the  chickens  except  the  Queen's  Park  Hotel,  and  that 
also  has  an  early  bedtime  on  ordinary  occasions,  but  the 
presence  of  American  officers  and  the  races  combined  made 
it  break  the  Ben  Franklin  rule  of  early  to  bed. 

And  so  the  visit  to  Trinidad  wore  away.  The  fleet  was 
really  glad  to  leave.  Most  of  the  visitors  growled  and 
said  they'd  be  glad  never  to  return,  but  all  the  same  every 


46      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

one  who  has  once  been  here  in  the  winter  and  experienced 
the  delightful  climate  and  picturesque   surroundings  will 
be  glad  to  see  it  once  again.     The  motto  of  the  fleet  now  is : 
"  Heave  away  for  Rio." 
Neptune  will  board  us  on  the  way. 


CHAPTER  III 

TRINIDAD    TO    RIO    JANEIRO 

How  the  Battleship  Fleet  Greeted  the  New  Year  at  Sea  — Good  Will 
Fore  and  Aft  —  Beautiful  Spectacle  of  a  Searchlight  Drill  With 
Ninety-six  Lights  —  Crews  on  the  Whole  Glad  to  Get  Away  from 
Port  of  Spain  Despite  Official  Cordiality  —  The  Culgoa  and  the 
Catamaran  —  Missouri's  Man  Overboard — The  Sleepy  Brigantine. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

Rio  JANEIRO,  January,  14. 

IT  is  not  exceeding  the  limits  of  strict  accuracy  to  assert 
that  there  was  not  a  man  on  Admiral  Evans's  fleet  who 
was  not  glad  to  leave  Trinidad.     The  statement  must 
not  be  taken  as  reflecting  in  the  least  upon  the  officials  of 
the  place.    No  greetings  to  a  fleet  of  foreign  warships  could 
have  been  more  cordial  and  sincere  than  those  given  by 
Governor-General  Jackson  and  his  assistants.     There  was 
no  reserve  about  it.     It  was  genuine  and  from  the  heart. 

But  the  Trinidad  people  did  not  wake  up.  Half  a 
dozen  merchants  flew  American  flags  above  their  shops, 
perhaps  fifty  persons  all  told  came  out  to  visit  the  ships, 
the  clubs  were  thrown  open  to  officers  and  now  and  then 
some  of  the  residents  might  drive  or  stroll  down  to  the 
waterfront  to  take  a  look  at  the  fleet. 

There  were  two  reasons  for  this  apparent  indifference. 
One  was  that  the  ships  were  anchored  fully  five  miles  from 
town.  It  was  like  anchoring  a  fleet  of  vessels  at  Tomp- 

47 


48      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

kinsville  and  expecting  the  citizens  of  Manhattan  to  flock 
to  the  Battery  to  gaze  at  them  or  hire  small  boats  to  go 
down  to  see  them.  A  more  powerful  reason  was  that  the 
Christmas  horse  races  were  on.  That  meant  three  days  of 
closing  the  shops  at  noon,  three  days  of  betting,  three  days 
of  sharpening  wits  to  contest  with  three  card  monte  men, 
roulette  men,  wheel  of  fortune  men;  three  days  when  the 
most  prosperous  of  the  large  Hindu  population,  in  all 
their  picturesque  garb,  women  with  rings  in  noses,  brace- 
lets on  arms  and  legs,  brilliant  hued  gowns,  and  men  in 
their  turbans  and  one  garment  of  a  sheet  made  into  coat 
and  trousers  —  came  into  town ;  three  days  when  the  so- 
ciety of  the  place  imitated  the  Epsom  and  Derby  customs 
and  drove  into  the  inner  enclosure  with  their  drags  and 
other  turnouts,  and  had  luncheons  and  visits ;  three  even- 
ings of  promenading  and  dining  at  the  Queen's  Park  Hotel. 

How  could  any  one  expect  the  people  to  get  enthusiastic 
over  an  American  fleet  under  such  conditions?  The  peo- 
ple had  talked  for  weeks,  they  said,  over  the  arrival  of  the 
fleet,  but  straightway  when  it  was  announced  that  the 
races  would  be  held  at  the  same  time — .well,  how  can  any 
person  attend  to  two  important  things  at  one  and  the  same 
time?  Didn't  one  of  the  daily  morning  newspapers  give 
a  quarter  of  a  column  of  space  to  the  fleet  on  the  second 
day  after  its  arrival?  Talk  about  enterprise  in  journal- 
ism !  Trinidad  is  the  place  to  go  to  see  a  specimen  of  it. 

Admiral  Evans  expected  to  sail  at  8  o'clock  on  Sunday 
morning,  December  29,  but  there  was  some  delay  in  coal- 
ing and  he  did  not  get  away  until  4  P.  M.  The  night 
before  sailing  the  flagship  signalled  this  message  to  the 
entire  fleet,  to  be  published  on  each  ship  the  next  day : 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  49 

The  Commander-in-Chief  takes  pleasure  in  communicating  to  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  fleet  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  just 
received  from  the  Governor  of  Trinidad: 

*'  I  would  ask  to  be  allowed  to  offer  my  congratulations  on  the 
good  behavior  of  your  men  on  leave.  A  residence  of  seven  years  in 
Gibraltar,  which  is  a  rendezvous  of  the  fleets  of  the  world,  has  given 
me  some  experience  of  Jack  ashore,  and  I  can  assert  that  your  men 
have  established  a  reputation  which  would  be  hard  to  equal  and  im- 
possible to  beat." 

The  Commander-in-Chief  wishes  to  express  his  gratification  that 
the  conduct  of  the  men  has  been  such  as  to  merit  the  words  quoted 
above. 

That  farewell  banquet  was  fine.  Every  officer  and  man 
on  the  fleet  appreciated  its  kindly  and  sincere  tone  and 
every  man  was  ready  to  vote  Gov.  Jackson  a  brick.  There 
was  just  one  comment  made  throughout  the  fleet,  and  it 
might  as  well  be  set  out  here,  with  no  intention  of  raking 
over  the  ashes  of  the  past  offensively.  That  comment  was : 

"  There  is  nothing  of  Swettenham  about  Jackson.  He's 
all  right!" 

The  letter  from  Gov.  Jackson  sustains  what  has  been 
said  at  the  beginning  of  this  letter ;  the  official  welcome  was 
cordial,  sincere  and  without  reserve. 

The  trip  to  Rio  was  marked  by  two  celebrations,  New 
Year's  Day  and  the  visit  of  Neptune  on  crossing  the  line. 
One  should  not  think,  because  these  letters  record  consid- 
erable hilarity  on  three  occasions  —  Christmas  and  the 
other  two  —  all  within  two  weeks,  that  such  is  the  normal 
condition  on  an  American  warship.  These  celebrations 
happened  all  about  the  same  time  —  that  is  all.  The  pre- 
vailing condition  on  a  warship  is  anything  but  hilarity,  as 
will  be  revealed  later  in  these  letters. 

New  Year's,  like  Christmas,  was  a  general  holiday  for 


50      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  fleet.  There  were  quarters  in  the  morning  as  usual, 
but  after  that  there  was  no  work  and  the  smoking  lamp 
was  lighted  all  day.  Extra  things  at  dinners  were  pro- 
vided. As  was  general  on  shore,  the  new  year  was  wel- 
comed with  due  ceremony  and  celebrations  on  the  ships. 
As  soon  as  it  was  night  on  December  31  it  was  evident 
that  something  would  be  doing  by  midnight 

There  was  no  concerted  programme.  About  10  P.  M. 
the  officers  began  to  drift  one  by  one,  into  the  ward- 
room. It  was  a  very  decorous  assemblage.  Its  members 
began  to  tell  stories.  Now  and  then  a  song  would 
start  up,  and  all  would  join  in.  A  fruit  cake  made 
by  a  fond  mother  at  home  was  brought  out.  In  some  way 
the  eggnog  cups  seemed  to  steal  out  on  a  side  table.  Then 
came  a  mixture  that  touched  the  spot  and  unloosened  the 
vocal  powers. 

It  wasn't  long  before  the  "  Coast  of  the  High  Bar- 
baree,"  "Avast!  Belay!  We're  Off  for  Baffin's  Bay," 
and  other  songs  were  being  rolled  out  to  the  swaying, 
dipping  of  the  ship  in  the  swells  that  the  strong  eastern 
trades  were  booming  up  against  the  port  side.  Naval 
Academy  songs  were  shouted.  One  officer  thoughtlessly 
sat  in  the  barber's  chair  in  the  rear  of  the  wardroom.  A 
great  rush  was  made  for  him  and  he  was  tousled  and  rum- 
pled and  pulled  and  hauled.  He  squirmed  out  of  the 
grasp  of  his  tormentors  and  then  the  "  Coast  of  the  High 
Barbaree,"  with  "  Blow  High,  Blow  Low,"  was  rolled  out 
again. 

Soon  it  became  evident  that  a  New  Year's  song  must  be 
sung.  The  Christmas  song  of  the  Vermont,  with  the  high- 
rolling,  lob-e-dob  swing  in  it,  was  taken  as  a  model  and 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  51 

there  were  a  few  minutes  for  adaptation  to  the  Louisiana. 
When  it  had  been  rehearsed  properly,  it  was  decided  to 
send  a  special  New  Year's  greeting  to  the  Vermont's  ward- 
room, because  the  officers  of  that  ship  had  made  a  Christ- 
mas serenading  cah1  on  all  the  ships  on  Christmas  night  in 
Trinidad.  One  of  the  Vermont's  officers  is  Dr.  F.  M.  Fur- 
long. His  mates  on  Christmas  Day  had  nominated  him 
for  president  and  so  informed  the  Louisiana's  wardroom 
when  they  reached  this  ship.  He  was  made  to  make  a 
speech  of  acceptance  and  in  apparent  seriousness  he  grew 
eloquent  over  his  chances  and  his  platform.  The  New 
Years  greeting  from  the  Louisiana  to  the  Vermont  was 
something  like  this: 

"  The  Louisiana's  wardroom  sends  happy  New  Year 
greetings  to  the  Vermont's  wardroom  and  pledges  the  solid 
W.  C.  T.  U.  vote  to  Dr.  Furlong.  Back  districts,  from 
the  grassy  slopes  of  the  Green  Mountains  to  the  saccharine 
depths  of  the  Pelican  canebrakes,  all  heard  from.  We're 
happy  and  well.  Happy  New  Year !  Happy  New  Year  t 
Happy  New  Year  to  you !  " 

The  greeting  was  sent  to  the  bridge  to  be  flung  into  the 
air  on  the  illuminated  semaphore  signals  at  five  minutes  to 
midnight.  Then  came  the  final  rehearsals  of  the  New  Year 
song,  and  just  as  the  signals  were  sending  the  greeting  to 
the  Vermont  a  dozen  lusty  officers  stole  up  to  the  quarter- 
deck and  sang  their  song  softly  to  see  if  it  was  all  right. 
Then  they  climbed  on  the  upper  deck,  stepped  quietly  along 
the  gangway  to  the  forward  bridge.  They  were  as  silent 
as  Indians.  One  of  them  had  a  great  Christmas  palm 
branch  fully  twelve  feet  long.  One  by  one  they  sneaked 
up  the  port  ladders  and  stowed  themselves  far  out  on  the 


52      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

port  side  of  the  bridge.  All  was  quiet  until  eight  bells 
was  struck  and  then  eight  bells  more  for  the  New  Year. 
A  great  burst  of  song  startled  the  officer  of  the  deck  just 
as  the  last  letter  of  the  message  to  the  Vermont  had  been 
flashed.  The  song  was: 

Happy  New  Year!    Happy  New  Year! 

We're  happy  and  well. 

Here's  to  the  Lo'siana 

And  don't  she  look  swell! 

We're  a  highrolling, 

Rollicking  crew; 

Happy  New  Year!  Happy  New  Year! 

Happy  New  Year  to  you! 

The  great  palm  branch  was  swung  around  to  the  danger 
of  utter  disarrangement  of  engine  room  signals,  and  the 
officer  of  the  deck  growled  out  something  about  a  lot  of 
wild  Indians.  A  high  flinging  dance  followed  on  the 
bridge,  with  the  Happy  New  Year  song  shouted  twenty 
times  or  more. 

"  Get  out  of  here ! "  ordered  the  bridge  officer. 

"  All  right ;  we'll  serenade  the  Captain !  "  shouted  the 
merry  crew.  Down  to  the  lower  bridge,  where  the  Captain 
has  his  emergency  quarters  while  at  sea,  they  went.  The 
Captain  got  a  good  dose  of  noise,  but  being  a  discreet 
man  he  said  never  a  word.  There  was  a  rumor  that  he 
wasn't  inside  at  all  and  that,  knowing  what  to  do  on  certain 
occasions,  he  had  decided  to  remain  in  his  private  rooms 
below,  where  not  even  unofficial  knowledge  of  any  high 
jinks  could  reach  his  ears. 

Then  the  procession  started  for  the  quarterdeck,  and 
leaning  far  over  the  rails  on  the  starboard  side  with  the 
stiff  trade  wind  blowing  the  sound  from  the  megaphoned 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  53 

throats  of  the  singers,  happy  New  Year's  greetings  were 
sung  to  the  Georgia,  400  yards  back  and  to  starboard. 
That  ship  heard  it  easily. 

•  Then  came  a  procession  through  the  Louisiana.  The 
members  of  the  crew  were  slung  in  their  hammocks,  but  nu- 
merous noises  of  catcalls  and  horns  and  shouts  told  that  no 
one  was  asleep.  At  every  section  of  every  division  on 
every  deck  the  sailors  were  greeted  with  song.  They  sat 
up  and  cheered.  It  was  fine  to  have  a  party  of  officers 
come  around  and  wish  you  a  happy  New  Year.  Every 
mess  of  the  ship  received  a  call.  When  the  warrant  of- 
ficers' mess  was  reached  there  was  a  brilliant  display  of 
pajamas  and  —  well,  in  print  one  musn't  go  into  particu- 
lars too  fully.  Regulations  must  be  obeyed  strictly  even 
when  you're  having  a  good  time.  All  the  regulations 
were  obeyed  —  several  times,  and  then  some  —  in  that  big 
roundup. 

Didn't  the  bos'n  sing : 

Bad  luck  to  the  day 
I  wandered  away. 

and  then  go  into  the  forty-seven  verses  about  life  on  the 
ci  Old  Colorado  "  ?  Didn't  the  electrical  gunner  join  with 
the  chief  engineer  in  giving  down  the  twenty-seven  bells 
song?  Didn't  the  carpenter  dance  a  highland  fling? 
Didn't  the  scholarly  warrant  machinist  from  the  Boston 
Tech.  twang  a  banjo  and  set  the  pace  for  the  "  Old  New 
York  "  and  the  "  Dear  Old  Broadway  "  songs  ?  And  then 
didn't  someone  remark  that  "  dear  old  Kim  "  hadn't  been 
seen  in  all  the  parading  that  night?  A  rush  was  made 
for  Kim's  room  but  it  was  barricaded. 


54      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Come  out,  Kim ! "  was  the  order. 

"  Not  on  your  life,"  was  the  response. 

And  then,  for  revenge,  didn't  the  crowd  sing  a  song 
about  Kim?  Every  man  who  knows  anything  about  the 
United  States  Navy  knows  Kim,  the  genial  paymaster's 
clerk,  who  sits  in  the  junior  officer's  mess  to  keep  the 
youngsters  in  proper  submission,  and  who  has  trained  a 
generation  of  officers  in  things  naval;  Kim,  who  has  sailed 
the  high  seas  in  the  United  States  Navy  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century  and  knows  so  much  about  the  ships  and  officers 
that  he  wouldn't  dare  to  tell  it  all  and  ought  to  be  made 
an  Admiral  for  his  knowledge  and  his  discretion ;  Kim, 
who  has  to  salute  many  a  man  with  a  star  on  his  sleeve  and 
some  of  them  with  two  stars,  the  minute  he  sees  them,  and 
then  can  call  them  Bill  and  Jim  and  Tom  in  private ;  Kim, 
the  best  beloved,  all  around  good  fellow  on  the  ship ;  yes, 
everybody  knows  Kim.  It  isn't  necessary  to  print  the  full 
name  of  this  obliging,  hard  working  autocrat  of  the  pay- 
master's office.  This  is  the  song  that  greeted  him: 

Everybody  works  but  dear  old  Kim, 

He  sits  'round  all  day, 
Feet  upon  the  table, 

Smoking  his  Henry  Clay; 
Young  Pay  pays  out  money, 

Old  Pay  takes  it  in; 
Everybody  works  on  this  ship 

But  dear  old  Kim. 

Howls  of  glee  from  warrant  officers,  from  petty  officers, 
from  hundreds  of  hammocks  greeted  the  song.  Kim 
chuckled  but  wouldn't  come  out.  Finally  the  siege  could 
be  resisted  no  longer  and  out  came  Kim  in  full  regulation 
pajamas  and  the  din  was  terrific.  It  was  a  dance  all 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  55 

around  and  some  more  strictly  regulation  things  to  drink. 
Happy  New  Year  was  sung  for  the  273d  time  and  then 
came  a  further  inspection  of  the  ship.  Wasn't  it  time  for 
the  dinner  for  New  Year's  Day  to  be  tested  in  the  cook's 
galley?  Wasn't  there  as  fine  a  specimen  of  the  genus 
turkey  as  graced  any  board  in  the  United  States  all  ready 
to  be  tested?  And  wasn't  it  tested  until  nothing  but  the 
rack  was  left? 

The  fire  rooms  had  to  be  visited  and  down  slippery  lad- 
ders with  the  machinery  chugging  and  rolling  and  plung- 
ing the  piratical  crew  stole.  Where  men  were  sweating 
in  front  of  furnace  doors  in  watertight  compartments  the 
greeting  was  sung  and  the  words  "  Happy  New  Year " 
were  chalked  on  furnace  doors.  Perhaps  the  engines  lost 
a  revolution  or  two,  or  the  steam  slowed  off  just  a  bit  and 
the  officer  of  the  deck  wondered  why  he  was  unable  to 
keep  his  position  of  1,200  yards  from  the  flagship  exactly, 
but  what  did  it  matter? 

And  when  the  rounds  were  all  completed  and  the  pirates 
assembled  in  the  wardroom  for  their  final  song  and  final  — 
well,  never  mind  that  —  didn't  a  messenger  from  the  bridge 
come  down  with  a  signalled  message  from  the  Vermont  with 
a  toast  that  was  being  offered  in  the  Vermont's  wardroom: 

Here's  to  you,  Louisiana, 

Here's  to  you,  our  jovial  friends? 

Every  ship  was  having  a  celebration  something  like  that. 
It's  impossible  to  give  the  details  because  when  a  big  fleet 
is  going  along  at  the  rate  of  ten  knots  an  hour  and  fight- 
ing a  mean  Amazon  current  as  well,  and  the  semaphores 
and  other  signals  are  being  kept  busy  with  official  mes- 


56      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

sages  it  isn't  exactly  good  form  for  newspaper  landlub- 
bers to  ask  to  be  allowed  to  inquire  what  was  done  on  the 
other  ships,  matters  which,  even  if  told  unofficially,  would 
not  look  exactly  attractive  all  written  out  in  a  signal  book, 
because  you  can't  put  much  fun  in  a  signal  book  entry. 
There  must  have  been  a  good  deal  of  the  happy-go-lucky 
spirit  on  some  of  the  ships,  for  on  two  or  three  of  them  the 
rollickers  got  at  the  siren  whistles  and  blew  them.  That  is 
something  that  might  prove  serious  to  a  fleet  sailing  as 
this  is,  because  the  blowing  of  siren  whistles,  except  at  a 
certain  hour  of  the  day,  when  all  the  whistles  are  tested  — 
they  call  the  noise  the  loosening  of  the  dogs  of  war  — 
means  grave  danger  and  it  is  time  to  act  at  once.  But 
New  Year's  came  in  happily  all  around  and  when  the  fun 
was  over  the  one  thought  of  the  rollickers  was  that  within 
a  week  Neptune  would  come  aboard  and  after  that  there 
would  be  a  long  dry  spell. 

When  quarters  were  sounded  a  little  after  9  o'clock  on 
New  Year's  morning  all  hands  appeared.  The  usual  for- 
mality marked  the  occasion.  The  Captain  came  up  and 
looked  precisely  as  if  his  ship  had  been  as  quiet  as  a  grave 
all  night ;  the  executive  officer  answered  salutes  with  an  in- 
cisive manner,  as  each  officer  approached  and  reported  his 
division  "  all  present  or  accounted  for " ;  the  members 
of  the  crew  gave  no  hint  that  they  had  seen  any  officer 
roaming  about  the  ship  only  a  few  hours  before  in  a  free 
and  easy  manner  violating  all  ordinary  traditions  of  a 
naval  officer's  dignity.  And  as  for  the  warrant  officers, 
when  they  saluted  and  gave  you  an  icy  stare,  as  if  they 
might  have  met  you  somewhere  once  upon  a  time  but  really 
had  quite  forgotten  your  name,  you  felt  relieved  and  glad 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  57 

that  those  two  or  three  red  streaks  on  your  left  eye  ball  had 
escaped  general  notice,  and  then  it  was  that  you  felt  like 
writing  an  apostrophe  to  discipline  in  the  American  Navy. 

Of  the  trip  itself  to  Rio  —  the  mere  sailing  of  it  — • 
there  is  not  much  to  record.  It  was  done  in  squadron  for- 
mation —  two  lines  of  warships,  with  the  supply  ships 
Glacier  and  Culgoa  bringing  up  the  rear  midway  between 
the  lines.  For  six  days  off  the  upper  part  of  South 
America  there  was  quite  a  heavy  swell  and  a  strong  Amazon 
current  that  retarded  the  progress  of  the  ships  to  gome 
extent. 

One  day  the  swells  were  so  heavy  as  to  make  the  sea 
moderately  rough.  Every  ship  in  the  fleet  buried  its  nose 
under  the  water  constantly  and  sometimes  the  seas  would 
slip  up  the  sloping  fronts  of  the  turrets  and  splash  their 
spray  against  the  bridges.  The  sun  was  bright,  and  as 
these  seas  would  come  over  the  bow  and  spread  their  aprons 
of  water  over  the  forward  parts  of  the  ships  the  colors 
would  change  from  blue  to  green,  with  white  fringes,  and 
then  the  sun  would  arch  rainbows  over  the  boiling  torrents 
that  would  run  from  the  sides  as  the  ships  rose  to  the  tops 
of  the  waves.  The  sea  was  tossing  and  tumbling  far  out 
to  the  horizon  circle,  and  as  the  ships  dipped  and  rose 
they  seemed  like  veritable  warhorses  of  the  sea  rearing  and 
plunging  in  royal  sport.  It  was  a  beautiful  spectacle, 
and  it  lasted  all  of  one  day. 

Soon  after  rounding  the  far  eastern  corner  of  South 
America  there  came  a  little  comedy.  The  Illinois  had 
dropped  out  of  column  formation  to  adjust  some  trifling 
disarrangement  of  machinery  and  some  one  on  her  thought 
he  saw  a  raft  to  the  eastward  with  two  men  clinging  to 


58      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

it.  Those  in  charge  were  evidently  new  to  this  coast  and 
did  not  recall  that  fishermen  of  the  Amazon  region  often 
sail  150  to  200  miles  out  to  sea  in  the  small  catamarans 
that  look  more  like  logs  or  rafts  than  fishing  vessels.  A 
signal  was  sent  to  the  Culgoa. 

The  fleet  had  no  information  at  this  time  as  to  why 
the  Culgoa  suddenly  dropped  out  of  column  and  headed 
to  the  east  and  then  to  the  north  until  she  was  nearly  hull- 
down.  Soon  it  became  known  that  she  was  bent  on  a 
rescue  and  the  correspondents  got  out  their  note  books 
and  began  to  prepare  to  make  much  of  the  incident. 
After  two  hours  the  Culgoa  was  back  in  her  place  with 
what  seemed  to  be  a  sheepish  look  to  those  familiar  with 
the  situation.  She  had  found  two  men  on  a  raft  —  that 
is  to  say,  on  a  catamaran  —  and  they  were  fishing  and 
seemed  content  with  their  station  in  life  and  especially 
honored  because  a  naval  vessel  of  the  United  States  had 
gone  out  of  her  way  to  greet  them.  The  intention  was 
all  right  and  good  form  did  not  permit  the  bantering  of 
any  humorous  personalities  on  the  situation. 

Three  nights  out  from  Rio  Admiral  Evans  ordered  the 
first  searchlight  practice  for  the  fleet.  Let  it  be  under- 
stood that  there  are  certain  things  which  a  correspondent 
may  not  send  from  this  fleet  or  even  reveal  afterward. 
They  relate  especially  to  tactical  things,  the  things  that 
may  give  information  or  some  hint  of  information  of  im- 
portance to  other  nations.  All  navies  have  searchlights, 
however,  and  what  will  be  said  here  of  the  drill  will  be  of 
that  nature  familiar  to  every  naval  man  and  no  more.  It 
was  merely  a  warming  up,  so  to  speak,  of  searchlight  work, 
just  a  test  to  see  if  all  the  apparatus  was  in  good  condition. 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  59 

The  drill  was  to  begin  at  exactly  8  o'clock.  Long  be- 
fore that  time  every  searchlight  had  been  uncovered  and 
connected  up  and  all  eyes  were  waiting  for  the  Connecticut 
to  begin  the  flashing.  Just  as  eight  bells  were  struck, 
when  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  lights  were  visible  on  each 
ship  of  the  fleet,  a  great  beam  of  white  shot  out  across  the 
starboard  of  the  Connecticut.  Instantly  ninety-six  beams 
like  it  darted  into  the  air  and  the  ocean  for  something  like 
a  square  mile  became  illuminated  as  though  the  full  glory 
of  the  heavens  had  descended  upon  it. 

You  who  have  seen  Coney  Island  lighted  up  on  a  sum- 
mer's night  may  form  some  idea  of  the  scene  if  you  can 
concentrate  in  your  imagination  the  lights  down  there 
turned  into  a  hundred  great  shafts,  sweeping,  dancing, 
swinging,  soaring  into  space,  each  light  with  the  sheen  of 
a  full  moon  brought  right  down  within  the  grasp  of  a  man 
who  turned  a  cylinder  about  as  he  pleased  and  said  to  the 
rays  go  here  and  go  there.  It  was  like  a  new  world  sprung 
into  existence  before  your  very  eyes.  Something  of  the 
meaning  of  the  power  of  a  fleet  of  warships  was  revealed 
to  you.  It  was  merely  a  small  part  of  this  power,  just 
a  trifle  of  the  strength  of  warships  put  on  display  be- 
cause it  could  be  tested  in  no  other  way. 

Each  ship  had  six  of  these  lights.  The  rules  do  not 
permit  the  rays  of  one  ship  to  be  displayed  upon  another 
because  it  imperils  navigation  for  one  thing,  and  there 
are  also  other  naval  reasons.  It  required  some  skill  to 
avoid  lighting  up  your  neighbor  ship.  As  soon  as  the 
lights  were  turned  on  the  men  managing  them  began  to 
swing  and  twist  them,  now  fast,  now  slowly,  about  each 
ship.  When  the  rays  struck  the  water,  say,  about  300 


60      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

yards  away  from  a  ship  and  each  light  was  turned  slowly 
around  the  vessel,  it  was  as  if  so  many  sprites  of  the  sea 
were  dancing  about  like  children  around  a  May  pole. 
Then  a  beam  would  go  scampering  away  as  if  it  had  the 
concentrated  velocity  of  a  hundred  12-inch  shots.  Then 
there  would  come  a  period  of  helterskelter  playing  of  the 
lights  until  a  slow  movement  of  searching  on  the  waters 
was  in  progress.  Each  ship  looked  as  if  it  were  a  thous- 
and legged  spider,  each  leg  made  up  of  a  ray  of  light. 
Sometimes  the  lights  of  a  ship  would  be  interlaced;  again 
they  would  be  centered  on  some  spot  far  out  in  the  water. 

The  rolling  crests  of  the  swells  would  be  whitened  with 
the  gleam  of  thousands  of  diamonds.  The  reflection  of 
the  light  beams  made  bands  of  purple  and  deep  green  upon 
the  water.  The  stars  lost  their  brightness.  It  was  as 
if  the  Yankee  ships  had  reached  out  and  stolen  a  good 
share  of  the  strength  of  the  sun  —  which  actually  was  the 
case  from  the  standpoint  of  science  —  had  stored  it  in 
their  holds  and  then  had  sprung  it  at  night,  just  to  show 
what  could  be  done  in  the  way  of  robbing  the  powers  of 
darkness  of  their  evil  aspect.  For  half  an  hour  the  thril- 
ling exhibition  continued  and  just  as  you  were  preparing 
to  throw  up  your  hat  and  give  three  cheers  for  Uncle  Sam 
and  his  navy  an  officer  brought  you  back  to  you  feet  with 
the  quiet  remark: 

"  Why,  that  isn't  a  patch  compared  with  the  real  thing ! 
This  was  just  a  sort  of  tuning  up  process,  no  more  to  be 
compared  with  the  real  thing  than  the  tuning  of  a  piano 
is  to  be  compared  with  a  Paderewski  performance." 

You  thought  him  a  little  strong  in  his  analogy  until 
of  a  sudden  all  the  lights  went  out  and  there  were  sixteen 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  61 

battleships  quietly  sailing  along  a  sea  as  smooth  as  Long 
Island  Sound  in  the  summer  time,  with  only  regulation 
lights  showing,  distances  kept  perfectly  and  nothing  to 
indicate  that  there  had  been  anything  out  of  the  ordinary 
in  a  sedate  and  peaceful  passage  from  one  port  to  an- 
other. 

An  unexpected  use  of  the  searchlights  followed  about 
thirty  hours  after  this  first  display.  It  was  2:30  o'clock 
of  the  second  morning  after  when  the  unforeseen  hap- 
pened. A  gun  on  the  Missouri  boomed  out.  It  was  the 
signal  for  a  man  overboard.  At  once  the  life  buoys  were 
cast  off  from  the  ship,  their  lights  burning  brightly,  and 
the  Missouri  and  the  entire  eight  ships  of  the  second  squad- 
ron, running  parallel  with  the  squadron  that  Admiral 
Evans  was  leading,  burst  into  a  blaze  of  light.  In  two 
minutes  the  entire  fleet  was  stopped.  Bbats  were  lowered 
from  the  Missouri,  the  Illinois  and  Kearsarge  following. 
The  searchlights  were  thrown  upon  the  water  and  upon 
the  boats,  showing  the  men  at  work  rowing  about  and 
searching  for  the  lost  man.  It  made  a  brilliant  scene  in 
the  dead  of  night.  Carefully  and  systematically  the  boats 
were  rowed  about  for  half  an  hour.  Then,  when  it  was 
evident  that  if  a  man  had  fallen  overboard  he  had  been 
lost,  perhaps  by  striking  a  propeller  or  being  hit  by  some 
other  part  of  the  ship,  recalls  were  given  and  the  boats 
returned  to  the  ships  and  the  squadron  proceeded.  At 
that  time  the  Missouri  signalled  that  she  was  not  sure  she 
had  lost  a  man,  but  a  sentry  had  thought  he  had  seen  one 
fall  overboard. 

Later  the  facts  came  out.  The  alarm  was  given  by  a 
man  who  had  a  sailor's  nightmare.  No  one  was  found 


62      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

missing  at  roll  call  the  next  morning  and  every  one  felt  so 
sheepish  that  no  formal  report  was  made. 

A  few  hours  previous,  at  10:35  in  the  evening,  one  of 
the  perils  of  navigation  —  especially  for  the  other  fellow 
was  brought  home  vividly  to  the  fleet.  A  barkentine  with 
a  dim  light  was  sighted  about  800  yards  to  the  west  of 
Admiral  Evans's  squadron.  The  vessel  was  going  north. 
Probably  the  man  on  watch  had  gone  to  sleep.  He  sud- 
denly awoke  and  before  the  officer  of  the  deck  on  the  Lou- 
isiana could  recover  from  his  amazement  he  headed  straight 
for  that  vessel,  the  fourth  ship  in  the  squadron.  It  was 
soon  plain  that  the  barkentine  would  clear  the  stern  of  the 
Louisiana  and  would  become  a  menace  to  the  Georgia,  the 
following  ship.  The  officer  of  the  deck  of  the  Georgia 
had  to  sheer  off  and  this  made  the  officer  of  the  deck  of 
the  Rhode  Island  sheer  also.  The  barkentine  went  right 
between  the  Louisiana  and  the  Georgia. 

By  that  time  the  officer  of  the  sailing  vessel  had  got  a 
lot  of  lights  out  and  apparently  was  in  a  state  of  com- 
plete obfustication.  He  had  never  seen  so  many  lights  at 
sea  in  such  a  limited  space  in  his  life.  Clearing  the  first 
squadron  he  came  into  full  view  of  another  over  to  the 
east.  There  he  was,  all  mixed  up  in  a  fleet  of  warships 
going  at  the  rate  of  ten  knots  an  hour.  He  became  rat- 
tled again  and  turned  to  go  outside  the  line  of  the  first 
squadron,  which  he  had  just  pierced.  He  came  near 
hitting  the  Virginia,  but  finally  got  away  safely.  It  was 
a  hair  raising  episode. 

"  That's  what  I  call  dancing  a  Virginia  reel  at  sea  by 
boats,"  said  one  officer  after  the  incident  was  closed. 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  another,  "  to  show  that  not  only 


TRINIDAD  TO  RIO  JANEIRO  63 

does  a  kind  Providence  usually  watch  over  a  drunken  man 
on  shore,  but  seems  to  guard  men  at  sea  who  go  to  sleep 
on  watch." 

It  was  a  miraculous  escape  for  the  barkentine,  thread- 
ing her  way  in  and  out  of  a  fleet  of  warships  proceeding 
at  fair  speed  and  only  400  yards  apart.  No  skipper 
would  have  dared  take  such  chances  in  the  daytime  and  in 
full  control  of  his  craft.  The  officers  of  the  fleet  breathed 
a  sigh  of  relief  to  think  that  they  didn't  have  to  record 
against  this  cruise  the  running  down  of  a  vessel  at  sea 
with  the  consequent  probable  loss  of  life. 

And  so  the  voyage  went  on  placidly  with  the  usual  drills 
and  daily  ceremonies  until  Cape  Frio,  some  sixty  miles 
east  of  Rio,  was  sighted  and  then  there  came  the  journey 
along  the  coast,  the  entrance  into  the  magnificent  harbor, 
the  splash  of  the  mud  hooks  and  the  feeling  that  one- 
third  of  the  voyage  to  San  Francisco  was  over,  and  the 
fleet  was  shaking  itself  down  into  a  smooth  working  condi- 
tion better  and  better  with  every  day  at  sea. 


CHAPTER  IV 

NEPTUNE  AHOY! 

Weird  Nautical  Doings  on  Crossing  the  Line  —  Officers,  Sailors  and 
Newspaper  Man  Pass  Traditional  Initiation  —  Ocean  Monarch  and 
His  Gay  Spouse  Amphitrite  Pick  the  Ship  President  Roosevelt 
Once  Sailed  on  for  Their  Visit— Rest  of  the  Fleet  Only  Thought 
He  Was  on  Board  —  Court  Physicians  and  Ducking  Bears  —  Pa- 
ternal Messages  From  the  Flagship  —  Sons  of  Admiral  Evans  and 
Capt.  Osterhaus  Made  Real  Sailormen  —  A  Great  Sight. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

Rio  JANEIRO,  Jan.  14. 

NEPTUNUS  Rex !  Long  live  the  King ! 
Neptune,  the  only  king  who  never  dies,  had  the  big- 
gest j  ob  of  his  career  on  Monday,  January  6,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1908  and  the  year  of  4,000  or  5,000  and 
something  since  Noah  set  up  a  sea  calendar  and  headed 
for  Mount  Ararat.  More  than  14,000  officers  and  men 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  practically  one-half  of  its 
membership,  crossed  the  equator  at  longitude  37°  11'  W., 
and  of  those  fully  12,500  had  to  be  initiated  into  the 
"  solemn  mysteries  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  the  Deep." 
Like  the  man  who  tried  the  rheumatism  cures,  every  one 
of  the  landlubbers,  pollywogs  and  sea  lawyers  was  "  done 
good." 

It  was  the  proudest  day  that  Neptunus  Rex  ever  ex- 
perienced.    He  said  so  himself,  and  he  put  on  great  airs 

64 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  65 

and  strutted  about  with  the  dignity  and  pomp  that  befit 
his  majestic  rule  as  he  declared  that  he  was  the  only  king, 
by  all  the  mermaids,  sea  serpents,  whales,  sharks,  dolphins, 
skates,  eels,  suckers,  lobsters,  crabs,  pollywogs  and  jelly- 
fish, who  could  ever  take  possession  of  the  United  States 
Navy.  And  by  the  selfsame  creatures  of  the  deep  he 
swore  solemnly  that  none  but  he  and  Uncle  Sam  should 
ever  have  the  right  to  boss  that  navy.  Whereat  the  duly 
initiated  members  of  his  royal  domain  cheered  him  lustily 
and  declared  everlasting  allegiance. 

To  get  right  down  to  business,  let  it  be  said  at  once  that  it 
was  a  spectacle  worth  travelling  tens  of  thousands  of  miles 
to  see.  It  was  the  most  elaborate,  painstaking,  well 
planned,  rip  snorting  initiation  of  the  kind  ever  produced. 
For  be  it  known  that  Neptune  does  not  recognize  as  a 
thirty-third  degree  member  of  his  domain  any  one  who  has 
not  crossed  the  line  on  a  warship. 

Neptune,  not  having  the  attribute  of  omnipresence,  was 
able  to  visit  only  one  of  the  ships  of  this  fleet.  That 
ship  was  the  Louisiana.  Of  course,  every  other  ship  will 
make  the  claim  that  he  visited  that  vessel,  but  the  fact  is 
that  he  honored  the  Louisiana  alone  with  his  personal 
presence  and  had  to  send  representatives  to  the  other  ships. 
He  said  he  came  to  the  Louisiana  because  he  had  heard 
she  was  the  most  famous  ship  of  the  fleet,  President  Roose- 
velt having  made  a  trip  close  to  his  royal  domain  in  her. 
He  therefore  selected  her  for  his  visit  and  he  ordered  that 
a  special  honorary  certificate  of  membership  in  his  realm 
be  sent  to  the  President  and  Mrs.  Roosevelt. 

The  preparations  for  Neptune's  visit  began  formally  on 
December  19,  three  days  out  from  Hampton  Roads,  when 


66      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Fore  Top,  the  Official  Representative  of  his  Majesty 
Neptunus  Rex,"  received  a  wireless  message  to  organize 
the  members  of  the  royal  domain  on  the  ship  and  prepare 
for  the  initiation  ceremonies.  Thereafter  every  day  while 
the  ship  was  at  sea  mysterious  proclamations  were  posted 
at  the  scuttlebutt  (the  drinking  tank)  telling  the  land- 
lubbers, pollywogs  and  sea  lawyers  of  the  terrible  things 
that  would  happen  to  them  when  they  crossed  the  line. 
Dire  penalties  were  provided  for  any  who  might  try  to 
hide,  and  long  extracts  from  the  Revised  Statutes  were 
posted  prescribing  the  punishments  to  be  inflicted  upon 
the  willing  and  the  unwilling.  There  was  decided  uneasi- 
ness among  the  youngsters  on  board  —  and  it  should  be 
remembered  that  most  of  the  crew  of  the  ship  are  just 
above  or  below  £1,  having  come  almost  green  to  the  vessel 
from  the  training  station  at  Newport  —  when  a  procla- 
mation was  posted  containing  this  notification  to  Fore 
Top: 

"  There  has  been  ordered  supplied  to  you  upon  arrival 
at  Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad,  750  gallons  of  coal  tar,  90 
gallons  of  varnish,  400  pounds  of  sulphur,  4  sets  of  razors 
complete,  18  brushes,  4  sets  of  fine  rib  saws,  4  surgical 
knives,  2  large  meat  axes  and  15  pairs  of  handcuffs." 

Orders  were  also  given  for  sharpening  the  claws  and 
appetites  of  the  royal  bears  and  warnings  issued  lest  any 
one  of  the  uninitiated  should  speak  disrespectfully  of  Nep- 
tune's subjects.  A  day  or  so  later  came  orders  prescrib- 
ing the  height  of  the  ducking  chairs.  These  chairs  were 
to  be  so  high  that  four  flipflaps  would  be  turned  by  the 
victims  before  hitting  the  water  in  the  royal  tanks.  Six 
powerful  electrical  batteries  were  also  ordered  for  use,, 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  67 

The  bears  were  not  to  have  any  food  for  fifty-seven  hours 
preceding  the  crossing  of  the  line. 

Other  proclamations  provided  for  towing  recalcitrants 
in  the  sea  from  the  hawse  pipes  for  from  five  minutes  to 
four  hours,  according  to  the  degree  of  the  offence  of  the 
victim. 

Marvellous  yarns  were  spun  at  all  mess  tables  of  the 
severity  of  the  initiation,  all  of  which  got  on  the  nerves  of 
the  youngsters,  and  the  crew  was  in  a  state  of  semi-trepida- 
tion as  the  day  of  the  crossing  approached.  Then  came 
a  glimmer  of  fun,  for  one  day  there  came  a  "  scuttlebuttic, 
telephonic,  atmospheric "  communication  in  which  after 
more  warnings  that  there  would  be  no  escape  this  was 
said: 

"  I  understand  that  there  is  a  newspaper  man  on  board, 
and  if  such  is  the  case  you  will  report  to  me  at  once,  as 
there  is  a  special  provision  in  the  Regulations  of  the  Cere- 
monies of  Initiation  of  the  Royal  Realm  for  such  animals." 

Many  were  the  grins  among  the  crew  that  greeted  the 
Sun  man  that  day,  and  some  of  them  ventured  respect- 
fully to  salute  him  and  ask  him  if  he  had  seen  the  message 
and  had  noticed  that  orders  were  also  issued  "  to  the  royal 
doctors  to  have  their  pills  and  goggle  water  mixed  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  regulations  and  the  barbers  to  use  the 
proper  per  cent,  of  coal  tar,  oil,  molasses  and  india  ink  for 
their  lather."  The  next  day  Neptune  ordered  his  sub- 
jects to  "  do  stunts  "  with  the  newspaper  man.  Printers' 
ink  was  to  be  used  in  his  lather  so  as  "  to  give  him  a  dose 
of  his  own  medicine."  A  special  oven  was  to  be  con- 
structed to  roast  him,  and  then  he  would  know  how  it  felt 
himself. 


68      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

General  Order  No.  7  of  Fore  Top  told  the  barbers  to 
mix  mucilage  with  the  printer's  ink  and  to  prepare  the 
oven,  and  the  officers  and  crew  were  now  in  broad  grins 
as  they  greeted  the  Sun  man  and  informed  him  that  ho 
was  going  to  get  his  all  right.  Then  came  "  brainstorms  " 
from  his  Majesty  telling  how  the  policemen  were  to  act, 
ordering  that  their  "  clubs  be  stuffed  with  grate  bars  " 
and  such,  and  providing  how  the  hair  should  be  clipped. 
Forthwith  it  was  remarkable  how  dozens  of  men  rushed  to 
to  the  ship's  real  barbers  and  had  their  hair  clipped  close. 

"  I  ain't  goin'  to  have  none  of  that  coal  tar  and  grease 
in  mine,"  said  a  frightened  signal  boy.  A  windsail  was 
made  to  supply  air  to  the  officers'  quarters,  and  the  mes- 
senger boy  of  the  executive  officer  came  to  him  and  asked 
him  if  it  was  true  that  the  members  of  the  crew  were  to  be 
shot  down  that  canvas  tube. 

So  the  proclamations  grew  in  number  and  with  them  in- 
creased the  power  of  the  yarns.  The  royal  electrician  was 
ordered  to  test  the  batteries  and  the  royal  boatswain  was 
told  to  prepare  his  towlines  and  co-operate  with  the  royal 
diver  to  see  that  the  towing  was  done  properly,  and  finally 
came  the  last  message  from  Neptune  on  the  day  before  the 
line  was  reached.  It  approved  all  that  had  been  done. 
Old  Nep.  howled  with  joy  because  the  bears  were  hungry, 
the  knives  and  razors  were  sharpened,  the  lather  had  been 
mixed  just  right,  the  electric  batteries  were  sizzling,  the 
drop  into  the  tanks  had  been  put  up  to  thirty-eight  feet, 
and  he  wound  up  with  this  sentiment : 
"  God  help  the  poor  rookies !  " 
Whereupon  Fore  Top  issued  this  final  order: 


N   E   P  T   U    N     E 


Courtesy  oj  Collier's  Weekly 


Neptune  Ahoy  ! 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  69 

GENERAL  ORDER  NO.  23. 

All  loyal  subjects  will  at  once  make  their  final  reports  to  me  in  de- 
tail. Report  to  me  the  names  of  the  pollywogs,  landlubbers  and  sea 
lawyers  whose  names  have  been  entered  on  the  books  for  severe  pun- 
ishment. 

Good-by  and  good  luck  to  the  poor  rookies  who  will  come  under 
your  notice  to-morrow!  Deal  in  a  befitting  manner  with  them  all. 
See  to  it  especially  that  the  newspaper  man  gets  his. 

FORE  TOP,  O  R.  O.  H.  M.  G.  M.  N.  R.  R.  R.  D. 

The  names  of  about  a  dozen  well  known  sea  lawyers  of 
the  ship  were  posted  immediately  upon  the  scuttlebutt  and 
the  newspaper  man  "  got  his  "  later. 

That  afternoon  Capt.  Wainwright  and  his  executive 
officer,  Mr.  Eberle,  being  sticklers  for  the  preservation  of 
as  many  of  the  old  time  naval  and  sea  traditions  in  modern 
warships  as  possible,  took  official  notice  of  what  was  going 
on  and  this  order  was  published  to  the  ship: 

U.  S.  S.  LOUISIANA, 
AT  SEA,  LAT.   l'-30'   N.,  LONG.  39-10  W., 

January  5,  1908. 
ORDER. 

1.  Official  notification  has   been   received   that  his   Majesty,   Nep- 
tunus  Rex,  will  visit  this  ship  in  state  at  9  a.m.  on  the  6th  day  of 
January,  1908. 

2.  His  Majesty  will  be   received  with  due  ceremony  at  the  time 
appointed.     At  8:45   a.  m.   the  divisions  will  be  called  to  quarters, 
after   which   "all   hands   will   be   called   to   muster"   to   receive   his 
Majesty  in  a  manner  befitting  his  high  rank.     The  boatswain  and 
eight  boys  will  attend  the  side.     When  his  Majesty  reaches  the  quar- 
terdeck the  officers  and  crew  will  salute,  the  band  will  play  a  march 
and  the  Royal  Standard  of  Neptune  will  be  hoisted  at  the  main. 

3.  After  the  official  reception  the  royal  ceremonies  of  initiation  will 
begin. 


70      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

4.  All  ceremonies  will  be  conducted  in  an  orderly  manner,  in  keep- 
ing with  the  time  honored  traditions  of  the  Naval  Service. 

E.  W.  EBERLE, 
Lieutenant-Commander,  U.  S.  Navy, 

Executive  Officer. 
Approved: 

R.  WAINWRIGHT, 
Captain  U.  S.  Navy, 

Commanding. 

At  a  general  muster  of  the  crew  that  Sunday  morning 
each  man  who  had  not  crossed  the  line  —  and  a  complete 
list  had  been  prepared  of  them  —  received  this  subpoena  as 
he  was  dismissed  from  the  deck: 

You  LANDLUBBER,  POLLYWOG  AND  SEA  LAWYER:  You  are  hereby 
notified  that  the  good  ship  Louisiana,  on  which  you  are  serving, 
will  to-morrow  enter  the  domain  of  which  I  am  the  ruler.  As  no 
landlubber,  pollywog  or  sea  lawyer  can  enter  my  domain  or  be- 
come one  of  my  royal  subjects  unless  he  undergoes  the  initiation 
as  prescribed  by  me,  you  will  when  the  ceremonies  commence  present 
yourself  for  the  initiation,  and  if  you  show  that  you  are  worthy 
you  will  become  a  member  of  my  royal  realm  and  be  subject  to  my 
orders  in  all  seas  on  which  you  may  be. 

If  you  do  not  present  yourself  for  this  initiation  and  I  am  re- 
quired to  despatch  members  of  my  staff  to  bring  you  before  me  by 
force  I  will  deal  severely  with  you.  His  Majesty, 

NEPTUNE  REX, 
Ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain. 

Of  the  960  odd  persons  on  the  Louisiana  only  about  100 
had  ever  crossed  the  line.  The  proportion  was  about  the 
same  on  all  the  other  ships  of  the  fleet,  so  it  is  a  fair  esti- 
mate that  12,500  men  were  waiting  the  arrival  of  Nep- 
tune. A  wireless  message  was  sent  to  the  Louisiana  that 
his  Majesty's  secretary  and  orderly  would  come  on  board 
on  the  evening  of  January  5  to  make  the  final  prepara- 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  71 

tions  for  the  ruler's  visit  the  next  morning.  The  call  for 
hammocks  was  sounded  about  7 :30  o'clock  that  evening  and 
while  the  men  were  aft  the  officer  of  the  deck,  Ensign  N. 
W.  Post  heard  a  pistol  shot  across  the  bows  of  the  ship  fol- 
lowed by: 

"Ship  ahoy!" 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir,"  said  the  officer  of  the  deck,  giving  the 
accepted  greeting  for  an  officer. 

"  What  ship  is  that?  Where  are  you  from  and  whither 
are  you  bound?"  came  the  voice. 

"  The  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  from  Hampton  Roads,  bound 
through  the  domains  of  his  Majesty  Neptune  Rex  for  the 
Pacific  Ocean,"  shouted  Post  through  a  megaphone. 

"  Heave  to ;  I  want  to  come  aboard !  " 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir.     Come  aboard." 

Thereupon  the  ship  was  hove  to  theoretically  and  two 
men  in  fantastic  dress  popped  over  the  starboard  bow  and 
made  their  way  aft.  Mr.  Eberle,  the  executive  officer,  had 
been  notified  that  Neptune's  secretary,  Main  Top  Bowline, 
was  on  board,  and  went  forward  to  receive  him. 

Capt.  Wainwright  was  notified  and  appeared  on  the 
quarter  deck.  Soon,  with  the  bugles  sounding  attention, 
Main  Top  Bowline  and  his  orderly  emerged  through  the 
superstructure  with  Mr.  Eberle.  The  secretary  and  as- 
sistant were  in  full  dress,  their  swallowtails  of  bright  red 
chintz  accentuated  by  enormous  negro  minstrel  collars  and 
by  ties  of  pink  that  flowed  out  to  their  shoulders.  They 
carried  full  dress  cocked  hats  of  navy  regulation  pattern. 
Their  faces  were  Indian  red  with  various  splashes  of  paint 
that  suggested  mermaids  and  sea  serpents.  Main  Top 
Bowline  had  a  pair  of  binoculars  made  from  black  beer 


72      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

bottles  which  were  capped  by  the  rubber  pieces  that  fit  the 
eyes  on  the  sighting  apparatus  of  the  guns. 

Mr.  Eberle  presented  the  secretary  to  the  captain,  while 
the  officers  and  dozens  of  the  crew  gathered  around.  The 
secretary  said  that  Neptune  would  come  aboard  at  9  A.  M. 
the  next  day  and  would  be  prepared  to  take  possession  of 
the  ship  and  exercise  due  authority.  He  complimented 
the  captain  on  the  appearance  of  his  "  fine  ship,"  said  that 
Neptune  would  visit  the  Louisiana  only  because  it  had  once 
carried  his  "  distinguished  colleague,  the  President,"  and 
he  expressed  the  hope  that  the  captain  and  the  crew  would 
extend  the  proper  honors.  Capt.  Wainwright  straight- 
ened himself  to  his  full  height  and  said : 

"  Mr.  Secretary,  Main  Top  Bowline :  It  gives  me  great 
pleasure  to  welcome  you  to  this  ship  and  to  receive  the 
notification  of  the  contemplated  visit  to-morrow  of  his 
Majesty  Neptunus  Rex.  I  beg  of  you  to  convey  to  him 
the  expression  of  my  highest  esteem  and  to  say  to  him  that 
we  shall  pay  him  the  distinguished  honors  that  belong  to 
his  rank,  and  shall  obey  gladly  all  his  august  commands. 
If  you  will  now  proceed  with  me  to  my  cabin  we  will  dis- 
cuss there  the  details  of  the  ceremony." 

Then  the  captain  and  the  visitors  disappeared  down  the 
captain's  gangway  and  a  bottle  of  champagne  was  opened 
and  the  health  of  Neptune  toasted.  The  captain  told 
Main  Top  Bowline  that  he  had  been  a  member  of  Nep- 
tune's domain  for  thirty-eight  years  but  had  not  met  Main 
Top  Bowline  before.  Main  Top  said  he  had  been  in  his 
Majesty's  service  only  fifteen  years.  Full  particulars  of 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  trip  on  the  Louisiana  were  requested  to  be 
reported  to  Neptune  and  then  the  secretary  left  and  called 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  73 

on  the  wardroom.  He  served  subpoenas  himself  on  the 
officers  and  asked  especially  for  the  newspaper  man.  He 
said  that  Neptune  had  been  misrepresented  so  often  in  print 
and  that  it  was  so  seldom  that  he  ever  found  a  reporter  on 
a  real  ship  of  the  line  that  he  was  bound  to  tell  the  news- 
paper man  to  be  prepared  for  the  worst.  Then  the  vis- 
itors were  escorted  forward  and  they  disappeared,  after 
ordering  this  message  sent  to  Admiral  Evans: 

The   Commander-in-CMeff   U.  S.   Atlantic  Fleet. 

By  virtue  of  the  authority  invested  in  me  by  his  Majesty,  Neptunus 
Rex,  ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain,  I  have  to  inform  you  that  I  have 
this  night  boarded  the  good  ship  Louisiana  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
forming the  commanding  officer  that  he  has  entered  the  domain 
ruled  by  his  Majesty  and  that  he  has  a  cargo  of  landlubbers,  polly- 
wogs  and  sea  lawyers  on  board  whom  it  will  be  necessary  to  initiate 
into  the  royal  realm  before  he  can  pass  through,  and  as  such  his  Most 
Gracious  Majesty  will  to-morrow  morning  board  the  good  ship  Lou- 
isiana and  carry  out  the  ceremonies  as  prescribed  by  the  regulations 
of  the  royal  realm.  His  Majesty  wishes  me  to  convey  his  compli- 
ments to  you  and  to  state  that  he  is  pleased  to  have  you  with  him 
once  more  in  his  royal  domain,  although  it  has  been  some  time  since 
he  has  been  able  to  greet  you  personally. 

MAIN  TOP  BOWLINE, 
Secretary  of  His  Most  Gracious  Majesty, 

NEPTUNE  REX, 
Ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain. 

Admiral  Evans  signalled  back  his  thanks  for  the  greet- 
ing, sent  his  compliments  to  Neptune  and  expressed  the 
hope  that  Neptune  and  his  party  would  have  a  "  royal 
good  time  on  the  Louisiana." 

The  next  morning  everybody  was  up  bright  and  early. 
Word  was  sent  throughout  the  ship  to  wear  no  arms  at 
quarters.  Every  man  put  on  his  cleanest  uniform.  Quar- 
ters was  sounded  and  the  men  assembled  at  their  usual 


74.  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

stations.  The  officers  emerged  one  by  one  from  the  super- 
structure and  reported  to  the  executive  officer  that  their 
divisions  were  all  present  or  accounted  for.  Then  came 
the  bugle  for  general  muster  on  the  quarter  deck.  All 
hands  were  marched  aft  and  the  officers  took  their  proper 
stations  with  a  large  space  vacant  about  the  captain  and 
a  passageway  from  the  superstructure.  Miss  Sally  Ann, 
the  Trinidad  monkey,  was  allowed  to  come  along  to  see 
the  fun.  She  perched  on  one  of  the  12-inch  guns  and 
flirted  her  tail  about  like  an  angry  cat.  A  wait  of  several 
minutes  followed  after  Mr.  Eberle  had  gone  forward  to 
receive  Neptune.  This  was  due,  it  was  reported  after- 
ward unofficially,  to  getting  Amphitrite,  Neptune's  wife, 
up  the  gangways  with  all  her  toggery  in  good  condition. 
Not  being  used  to  skirts,  it  was  quite  a  job.  At  the  en- 
trance to  the  deck  eight  side  boys  and  the  boatswain's 
mates  were  stationed. 

Suddenly  a  great  blast  from  the  bugles  announced  the 
approach.  Then  the  shrill  boatswains'  whistles  smote  the 
ears  and  Sally  Ann  set  up  an  awful  screeching.  The  word 
"  Salute !"  rang  out  and  every  man  stood  at  attention 
while  Neptune  and  his  wife  preceded  by  two  pages  stepped 
on  the  quarter  deck.  At  that  moment  a  monster  red  flag, 
eighteen  feet  by  twelve,  with  a  white  sea  serpent  on  it  that 
would  have  made  any  Chinese  dragon  run  to  cover,  was 
raised  to  the  main,  the  band  struck  up  Neptune's  march 
and  his  Majesty  and  consort  and  their  court  of  fifty-two 
persons  in  stately  step  trod  the  deck  to  greet  Capt.  Wain- 
wright.  Neptune  swung  his  trident  proudly,  and  as  he 
came  to  a  full  stop  he  said: 

"  Sir :  —  I  have  come  to-day  to  your  ship  to  exercise 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  75 

the  full  command  that  pertains  to  the  rule  of  my  domain.  I 
have  come  to  initiate  the  landlubbers  and  pollywogs  on 
this  vessel.  You  will  relinquish  command  to  me  and  I 
expect  that  full  honors  will  be  paid  to  my  rank.  I  am 
honoring  this  ship  of  the  fleet  especially  because  my  dis- 
tinguished friend  and  colleague,  the  President  of  the 
country  from  which  you  come,  once  used  this  ship  on  a 
near  approach  to  my  dominions.  I  am  informed  that  he 
would  be  here  to-day  in  person  if  the  cares  of  State  did 
not  prevent.  I  am  told  he  is  here  in  spirit.  I  shall  order, 
therefore,  a  special  honorary  certificate  of  membership  for 
him.  [Aside,  "  Can't  some  of  you  keep  that  damned  mon- 
key from  screeching  so  much?"]  I  shall  now  proceed  to 
your  cabin,  after  which  the  ceremonies  of  the  royal  initia- 
tions will  proceed." 

Capt.  Wainwright  bowed  profoundly  and  the  irreverent 
in  the  crew  set  up  a  howl  of  laughter  as  they  saw  the 
makeup  of  Neptune  and  his  party.  Neptune  and  Am- 
phitrite  and  the  two  pages  went  below  with  the  Captain. 
The  others  remained  on  deck.  There  were  the  two  secre- 
taries that  had  come  aboard  the  night  before  and  next  to 
them  were  two  royal  doctors,  in  long  swallowtails  and  with 
tall  hats  that  looked  like  the  headgear  of  Corean  high 
priests,  only  there  were  skulls  and  crossbones  on  them  for 
ornament.  The  doctors  carried  dress  suit  cases.  One  was 
labelled  "Dr.  Flip"  and  the  other  "Dr.  Flap."  The 
cases  contained  the  surgical  instruments  and  medicines. 
Then  came  the  royal  counsellors  with  enormous  law  books. 
The  lawyers  wore  the  wigs  of  English  practitioners  and 
long  black  robes.  Two  "  high  cops,"  in  chintz,  followed 
and  then  there  was  a  large  squad  of  policemen  each  with 


76      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

a  badge  numbered  23,  with  stuffed  clubs,  followed  by  the 
barbers,  a  dozen  black  bears  and  a  lot  of  retainers. 

Neptune  himself  wore  a  scarlet  robe  with  sea  serpents  em- 
broidered on  it  and  with  a  golden  hemp  fringe  all  around 
the  edges.  His  face  and  legs  and  arms  were  stained  a 
beautiful  mahogany  color.  A  great  beard  of  yellow  rope 
hung  down  over  his  fat  belly.  Amphitrite  was  in  white. 
She  wore  a  sea  green  flat  hat  and  carried  a  black  cat  done 
up  in  baby's  clothes.  That  cat  stayed  with  her  for  two 
hours  without  moving. 

"  My ! "  said  one  of  the  ordinary  seamen  who  had 
cruised  many  a  time  along  the  Bowery,  "  don't  she  look 
just  as  if  she  came  straight  from  the  Bowery  and  Hester 
street?  How  are  ye,  Amph?  " 

A  clout  on  the  head  by  a  mate  made  him  "  shorten  his 
chin  sail." 

Before  Neptune  reappeared  Dr.  Flip  went  up  to  Dr. 
Wentworth,  the  ship's  surgeon,  to  pay  his  professional  re- 
spects. Dr.  Flip  said  he  was  of  the  old  school  and  a 
graduate  of  the  "  Royal  College  of  the  Doldrums,  class 
of  Umpdy-umpdy-ump-ump."  He  was  strong,  he  said, 
on  the  use  of  leeches  and  bleeding.  Dr.  Wentworth  tact- 
fully admitted  that  the  old  school  had  its  merits. 

Then  came  Neptune  on  deck  again  and  the  party,  fol- 
lowed by  800  officers  and  men,  went  to  the  fo'c'sle  deck 
for  the  initiation.  Neptune  mounted  his  throne  on  a  plat- 
form. Two  tanks  had  been  erected  between  that  and  the 
forward  turret.  The  bears  slipped  over  the  sides  as  the 
retainers  filled  the  tanks  with  water.  Drs.  Flip  and  Flap 
unloaded  their  saws,  knives,  teeth  extractors  and  many  bot- 
tles of  vile  looking  medicine.  The  lawyers  opened  their 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  77 

books  to  certain  paragraphs  of  the  "  Revised  Statutes," 
chiefly  paragraph  4-11-44;  the  barbers  sharpened  their 
enormous  razors,  "  made  in  Yarmany " ;  the  policemen 
drew  up  in  line,  the  orderlies  rolled  up  the  barrel  of  lather, 
made  of  oatmeal  and  water,  and  another  barrel  of  "  tonic," 
to  be  used  in  enormous  squirt  guns.  It  was  Neptune's 
"  dope  "  for  the  unruly.  Then  Neptune,  with  a  flourish 
of  his  trident  and  settling  his  gilt  crown  well  back  on  his 
head,  as  Amphitrite  nestled  to  his  side,  asked  if  all  prep- 
arations had  been  completed. 

"  Yes,  your  Majesty,"  replied  Main  Top  Bowline. 

"  Then  let  the  initiations  proceed.  Bring  forward  as  the 
first  victim  that  newspaper  man.  He  shall  have  special  at- 
tention," was  the  command. 

The  Sun  man  mounted  the  steps  to  the  howls  of  800 
persons.  Dr.  Flip  sounded  his  lungs,  examined  his  teeth, 
felt  his  arms  and  legs,  made  him  wiggle  his  fingers  and 
then  said: 

"  Your  Majesty,  a  very  bad  case.  'E's  got  a  ingrowin' 
brain ! " 

"  What  do  you  prescribe  ?  " 

"  Well,  your  Majesty,  we  have  here  medicines  for  the 
cure  of  spavin,  sore  throat,  consumption,  chilblains,  diph- 
theria, eczema,  measles,  neuralgia,  heartburn  — 

"  Never  mind  the  rest,"  said  the  King.  "  What  is  the 
treatment?  " 

"  The  same  for  all,  sire,"  was  the  response.  "  A  good 
shave,  an  injection  in  the  arm  of  my  '  dope  '  [composed  of 
molasses  and  water]  some  powder  on  his  head  and  a  duck- 
ing in  the  briny  seas." 

"Very  good!"  replied  his  Majesty. 


78       WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Then  the  trouble  began.  A  pill  as  big  as  a  horse  chest- 
nut and  made  of  bread  crusts  was  forced  down  the  victim's 
throat.  The  squirt  gun  hit  him  full  in  the  face,  a  lotion 
was  rubbed  in  his  hair  and  then  he  was  forced  into  the 
chair  and  shaved.  A  question  was  asked  of  him,  and  as 
he  opened  his  mouth  to  reply  a  great  paint  brush  of  lather 
was  thrust  into  it.  Then  came  the  order  to  pull  out  the 
plug  from  the  chair  and  drop  him  over  backwards  into  the 
tank.  Well,  that  flight  and  that  ducking !  Here  descrip- 
tive powers  fail  the  Sun's  correspondent.  It  can  be  de- 
scribed best  in  the  words  of  Herman  Melville,  in  his  story 
of  "  White  Jacket,"  relating  to  a  cruise  he  made  in  1843 
around  the  horn  in  the  United  States  frigate,  United 
States,  when  he  went  into  the  water  in  another  way. 

"  Time  seemed  to  stand  still  and  all  the  worlds  poised  on 
their  poles  as  I  fell.  I  was  conscious  at  length  of  a  swift 
flinging  motion  of  my  limbs.  A  thunder-boom  sounded  in 
my  ears.  My  soul  seemed  flying  from  my  mouth.  Some 
current  seemed  hurrying  me  away.  In  a  trance  I  yielded 
and  sank  down  deeper  with  a  glide.  Purple  and  pathless 
was  the  deep  calm  now  around  me,  flecked  by  summer  light- 
nings in  an  azure  afar. 

"  Then  an  agonizing  revulsion  came  over  me  as  I  felt 
myself  sinking.  Next  moment  the  force  of  my  fall  was 
expended  and  there  I  hung  vibrating  in  the  deep.  What 
wild  sounds  then  rang  in  my  ear?  One  was  a  soft  moan- 
ing, as  of  low  waves  on  the  beach,  the  other  wild  and  heart- 
lessly jubilant,  as  of  the  sea  in  the  height  of  a  tempest. 
The  life  and  death  poise  soon  passed,  and  then  I  felt  my- 
self slowly  ascending  and  caught  a  dim  glimmering  of 
light.  Quicker  and  quicker  I  mounted,  till  at  last  I 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  79 

bounded  up  like  a  buoy  and  my  whole  head  was  bathed  in 
the  blessed  air." 

That  was  just  as  it  was  and  when  the  Sun  man  escaped 
from  the  tank  he  was  greeted  with  more  applause  and  cheer- 
ing than  he  had  ever  received  in  his  life. 

The  first  initiation  on  the  Louisiana  was  over.  Then 
came  a  roll  call  of  the  officers.  They  had  to  produce  cer- 
tificates or  pay  tribute.  The  crew  was  assembled  in  long 
lines.  One  by  one  they  went  up  the  ladders.  Drs.  Flip 
and  Flap  received  them.  Elaborate  examinations  were 
made  of  their  condition. 

,     "My,  my,  sire!"  Dr.  Flip  would  shout.     "  'E's  got 
valvular  contraction  of  the  eyelids !  " 

"  What  is  the  remedy  ?  "  Neptune  would  ask. 

"  My  usual  treatment,  sire,"  would  be  the  response. 

Then  would  come  a  dose  of  dope,  a  rub  of  hair  oil,  a 
shave  and  a  toss  over  into  the  tank  to  the  hungry  bears. 
Souse,  souse,  souse  again  would  follow,  and  when  the  vic- 
tim came  to  the  surface  each  time  he  would  send  up  a  stream 
of  water  from  his  mouth  that  resembled  the  spouting  of  a 
whale.  Those  who  were  waiting  for  their  duckings  would 
shout  with  the  members  of  Neptune's  party.  Officers 
crowded  to  the  front  of  the  bridge  and  the  midshipman  who 
was  using  the  stadimeter  to  get  the  proper  distance  in 
formation  had  the  hardest  day  of  his  life  trying  to  keep 
his  eye  on  the  flagship. 

"  Pass  'em  up  quick !  "  shouted  Neptune. 

Dr.  Flip  would  diagnose  a  case  as  "  Fatty  degeneration 
of  the  shinbone,  sire,"  and  the  usual  remedy  would  be  pre- 
scribed. Over  the  victim  went  into  the  tank.  Dr.  Flip 
would  then  announce  a  case: 


80      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Palpitation  of  the  hair,  sire.  You  can  see  for  your- 
self how  it  is  shaking." 

"  Let  him  have  the  prescribed  treatment,"  was  the  order. 

Dr.  Flip  then  announced  a  case  of  "  f  olderols  in  the 
right  ear,  sire." 

"  Soak  it  to  him  good !  "  was  the  command. 

Dr.  Flip  then  had  a  case  of  "  tickdullerous."  Similar 
treatment.  All  diseases  looked  alike  to  Neptune. 

"  Bunions !  "  was  the  next  report  of  Dr.  Flip. 

66  Poultice  his  hair  good.  It  draws  'em  up.  Then  saw 
off  his  leg  at  the  knee,"  was  the  remedy  prescribed  for  the 
bunion  ailment.  Dr.  Flip  brought  out  the  saws  with  vile 
looking  teeth.  The  two  doctors  sawed  away. 

"  By  cracky !  sire,  I  can't  cut  it  off,"  reported  Dr.  Flip. 

"Give  him  an  extra  dousing!"  ordered  his  Majesty. 

Dr.  Flip  next  reported  a  case  of  toothache. 

"  What  do  the  Revised  Statutes  say  ?  "  asked  Neptune. 

"  Beg  pardon,"  said  Dr.  Flip,  "  that  is  in  the  phar- 
macopoeia." 

"  Well,  what  does  the  farm  —  whatever  it  is  —  say  ?  " 
roared  Neptune. 

"  Gargle,  sire,"  said  Dr.  Flip ;  "  the  fumes  kill  the  pain." 
The  victim  got  the  gargle  treatment. 

"  Mullygrubs  in  his  back,  sire,"  was  the  next  from  Dr. 
Flip.  A  lambasting  with  stuffed  clubs  was  the  extra  treat- 
ment for  that,  in  addition  to  the  ducking. 

Then  came  a  strange  case,  that  of  a  youngster  who 
spends  his  spare  time  on  board  studying  mathematics  in  the 
hope  of  getting  higher  in  the  service.  Dr.  Flip  went  over 
him  with  great  care.  He  got  out  bottles  and  pills  and  saws 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  81 

and  bandages  and  plasters.  The  crowd  could  see  that  it 
was  a  most  serious  case. 

Dr.  Flap  was  called  in  consultation.  The  books  were 
produced  and  the  symptoms  were  pondered  over  with  many 
grave  shakes  of  the  head.  At  last  Dr.  Flip  made  the  right 
diagnosis. 

"  'E's  got  the  hypotenuse  rampant,"  he  shouted.  "  My, 
my !  I  am  astonished  that  a  surgeon  of  the  established 
reputation  of  Dr.  Wentworth  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
sire,  should  let  all  these  ailments  that  we  have  here  to-day 
escape  'im,  sire,"  shouted  Dr.  Flip. 

"  Send  for  Dr.  Wentworth ! "  roared  Neptune.  Dr. 
Wentworth  came.  He  told  Neptune  that  he  had  been  a 
royal  subject  of  his  for  more  than  twenty  years.  Nep 
softened  a  bit  at  that,  and  then  said  he  was  glad  to  see  him 
again,  but  how  about  these  strange  ailments?  Why  had 
he  not  cured  them? 

Dr.  Wentworth  is  a  man  of  tact,  great  tact,  and  he  ex- 
plained that  the  ailments  occurred  nowhere  else  than  in 
Neptune's  domain  and,  therefore,  he  thought  it  was  best  to 
have  them  treated  by  Neptune's  own  specialists  who  were 
familiar  with  the  newest  developments  and  the  best  treat- 
ment. 

While  the  initiations  were  going  on  Neptune  ordered  this 
message  semaphored  to  Admiral  Evans,  the  Commander  in 
Chief: 

Admiral  R.  D.  Evans,  U.  8.  Atlantic  Fleet. 

I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  your  son  and  the  son  of  the  cap- 
tain of  your  noble  flagship  have  this  day  declared  their  allegiance  as 
iny  loyal  subjects. 

NEPTUNE  REX. 


82  [WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Lieuts.  F.  T.  Evans  and  H.  W.  Osterhaus  are  attached 
to  the  Louisiana  and  occasionally  they  have  to  take  a  good 
deal  of  chaffing  and  no  favors  when  an  "  unofficial  mes- 
sage "  from  "  father  "  comes  over  the  signals.  This  was 
the  reply  that  Neptune  received  from  the  flagship: 

Neptune  Rex: 

We  are  delighted  that  our  sons  are  at  last  real  sailors.  They  have 
Served  a  long  time.  Soak  'em,  boys ! 

EVANS  and  OSTERHAUS. 

Young  Evans  and  young  Osterhaus  were  soaked  all 
right. 

The  initiation  ceremonies  were  kept  boiling  all  the  time. 
Occasionally  a  sea  lawyer,  one  with  an  established  reputa- 
tion as  such  among  the  crew,  would  come  up.  He  was 
asked  if  he  wanted  to  argue  his  case.  Not  one  of  them  did. 

"  Give  it  to  him  good,"  Neptune  would  shout.  And  they 
did.  The  rest  of  the  crew  understood  the  significance  of 
the  extra  ducking  and  howls  of  glee  resulted.  The  sea 
lawyers  usually  had  to  be  helped  out  of  the  tank.  Now 
and  then  a  man  would  lose  his  temper  when  he  got  into  the 
tank.  Small  mercy  for  him !  He  would  drag  a  bear 
under  the  water  with  him.  Forthwith  half  a  dozen  bears 
would  go  to  the  rescue  of  their  companion,  and  in  the  res- 
cue that  man  who  had  dragged  the  bear  under  would  think 
he  was  going  to  kingdom  come  before  he  got  a  breath  of 
air.  Oh,  it  didn't  pay  to  be  fresh  in  that  salt  water ! 

The  ceremonies  were  half  over  when  there  came  the  un- 
foreseen. A  victim  came  up  with  a  peculiar  glitter  in  his 
eye.  Dr.  Flip  saw  it  and  diagnosed  the  case  as  "  extremis 
mortuis  of  the  right  optic."  The  diagnosis  was  correct, 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  83 

for,  catching  Dr.  Flip  in  a  favorable  position,  the  victim 
toppled  Dr.  Flip  over  into  the  tank  himself. 

"  Flip  is  taking  a  flap  !  "  shouted  the  crowd.  The  bears 
fell  on  Dr.  Flip,  thinking  he  was  a  new  arrival,  and  he 
got  such  a  sousing  as  few  who  preceded  him  had  received. 
He  lost  his  glasses,  but  when  he  clambered  back  upon  the 
platform  he  called  out :  "  Next  case !  "  as  if  nothing  un- 
usual had  happened. 

Long  before  the  initiation  was  over  the  policemen  had 
roused  the  excitement  of  Sally  Ann,  who  was  perched  in 
the  rigging  over  the  bridge,  watching  the  strange  per- 
formance, as  they  ran  about  the  ship  chasing  culprits  who 
tried  to  escape.  Each  succeeding  arrest  stirred  her  up 
more  and  more,  and  she  shrieked  out  her  grief  in  unearthly 
yells.  One  of  the  bluejackets  had  to  gather  her  in  his 
arms  and  stroke  her  head  and  talk  soothingly  to  her  before 
she  would  be  comforted. 

Another  thing  that  pleased  Neptune  and  the  bluejackets 
was  the  appearance  of  an  enormous  gull,  a  "  goney  bird," 
they  called  it,  that  hovered  over  the  initiation  ceremonies 
for  more  than  an  hour,  turning  and  twisting  its  head  and 
giving  out  strange  calls.  Where  the  bird  came  from  no 
one  saw.  The  ship  was  300  miles  out  to  sea.  No  other 
bird  of  the  kind  was  in  sight.  It  was  the  sailor's  omen  of 
good  luck.  When  the  bird  alighted  in  the  rigging  a  cheer 
went  up.  That  sealed  the  matter  of  good  luck  and  then 
the  bird  flew  off  to  the  other  ships  and  watched  the  cere- 
monies there. 

So  hour  after  hour  the  initiation  went  on  until  the  last 
man  had  been  rounded  up  and  Neptune  pronounced  the 


84      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

day's  work   well   done.     He  sent  this   signal  to  Admiral 
Evans : 

The  Commander-in-Chief,  U.  3.  Atlantic  Fleet. 

I  have  to  inform  the  Commander-in-Chief  that  I  have  completed 
the  ceremonies  on  board  the  good  ship  Louisiana,  will  haul  down  my 
standard  and  take  my  departure.  The  Commander-in-Chief  will  ac- 
cept my  best  wishes  for  himself,  officers  and  men  of  the  United 
States  Atlantic  fleet  for  a  most  pleasant  voyage,  and  may  all  the 
royal  subjects  meet  again. 

NEPTTJNUS  REX, 
Ruler  of  the  Royal  Domain. 

Neptune  then  retreated  into  the  fo'c'sle  for  refreshment 
and  remained  there  until  darkness  came.  Then  a  barrel 
filled  with  oakum  and  oil  and  tar  was  set  on  fire  and  put 
afloat.  It  sailed  away  in  the  night.  It  was  "  Neptune's 
boat,"  and  he  was  going  back  to  his  royal  domains. 

After  he  had  gone  certificates  duly  signed  and  embel- 
lished with  mermaids  and  sea  urchins  and  starfish  and  ropes, 
with  an  octopus  for  a  background  and  a  picture  of  Nep- 
tune rising  from  the  sea  at  the  top  and  with  the  ship's  seal 
affixed  to  bits  of  red,  white  and  blue  ribbon,  were  presented 
to  all  hands.  Never  again  will  a  man  who  can  show  one 
of  them  have  to  take  a  dousing  and  barbering  with  suit- 
able medical  treatment  on  crossing  the  line. 

The  certificates  read: 

DOMAIN  OF  NEPTUNTJS    REX, 
RULER  OF  THE  RAGING  MAIN. 

To  all  Sailors,  wherever  ye  may  be,  and  to  all  Mermaids,  Sea  Ser- 
pents, Whales,  Sharks,  Porpoises,  Dolphins,  Skates,  Eels,  Suckers, 
Lobsters,  Crabs,  Pollywogs  and  other  living  things  of  the  sea. 
GREETING:     Know  ye  that  on  this   6th  day  of  January,   1908,  in 

latitude  00,000  and  longitude  37°,  11',  W.,  there  appeared  within  the 

limits  of  Our  Royal  Domain  the  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  bound  southward 

for  the  Straits  of  Magellan  and  Pacific  ports. 


NEPTUNE  AHOY!  85 

BE    IT   REMEMBERED 

That  the  Vessel  and  Officers  and  Crew  thereof  have  been  inspected 
and  passed  on  by  Ourself  and  Our  Royal  Staff. 

AND  BE  IT  KNOWN:  By  all  ye  Sailors,  Marines,  Landlubbers  and 
others  who  may  be  honored  by  his  Presence  that 

JOHN  DOE 

having  been  found  worthy  to  be  numbered  as   one  OF  OUR  TRUSTY 
SHELLBACKS,  has  been  gathered  to  our  fold  and  duly  initiated  into  the 

SOLEMN    MYSTERIES   OF   THE    ANCIENT   ORDER    OF   THE    DEEP. 

BE  IT  FURTHER  UNDERSTOOD:  That  by  virtue  of  the  power  invested 
in  me  I  do  hereby  command  all  my  subjects  to  show  due  honor  and 
respect  to  him  whenever  he  may  enter  Our  Realm. 

DISOBEY  THIS  ORDER  UNDER  PENALTY  OF  OUR  ROYAL  DISPLEASURE. 

Given  under  our  hand  and  seal  this  sixth  day  of  January,  1908. 

NEPTUNUS    REX..  , 
DAVY  JONES, 

His  Majesty's  Scrib?. 
[Seal  of  the  Louisiana.] 


CHAPTER  V 

BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME 

Never  Before  Did  American  Ships  Have  Such  a  Welcome  —  The 
Visit  a  Continual  Exchange  of  Prisoners  Made  by  Friendship  — 
Americans  Found  it  Easy  to  Sail  Into  This  Bay  of  all  Delights, 
but  Very  Hard  to  Sail  Out  —  Jack  Had  a  Fine  Time  Ashore  and 
Behaved  Properly  —  More  Than  4,000  of  Him  on  Liberty  at  One 
Time  — Official  Welcome  Sincere,  and  That  of  the  People  From 
the  Heart  —  Vice  Admiral's  Salutes  Greeted  Evans. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

Rio   JANEIRO,   Jan.   22. 

IN  Describing  the   arrival,   reception   and   stay   of  the 
American  fleet  in  this  port,  the  impulse  is  almost  irre- 
sistible to  use  superlatives.     There  can  be  no  error  of 
judgment  or  of  taste  in  employing  the  comparative  de- 
gree, for  strict  accuracy  compels  the  assertion  that  never 
was  an  American  fleet  greeted  more  cordially  and  never 
entertained  more  elaborately  in  a  foreign  port  than  in  this 
port,  the  "  Bay  of  All  Beauties,"  and  in  this  city,  fast  be- 
coming the  Paris  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

The  greetings  were  unmistakably  of  the  heart.  They 
were  far  more  than  official  expressions  of  esteem.  It  was 
our  old  familiar  friend  of  the  North,  the  Vox  Populi,  that 
spoke,  and  no  levity  is  intended  when  that  expression  is 
used.  The  people  acclaimed  the  fleet  and  that  aspect  was 
so  overwhelming,  so  constant,  so  omnipresent  that  it 

86 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME        87 

dwarfed  everything  else.  No  foreign  port  and  no  Ameri- 
can port  ever  saw  so  many  American  bluejackets  ashore  in 
ten  days ;  no  foreign  port  ever  opened  its  arms  more  freely 
to  American  sailors  of  high  and  low  degree. 

The  reception  of  the  fleet  was  a  decided  surprise.  The 
officers  were  confident  that  the  welcome  would  be  cordial, 
that  the  expressions  of  politeness  customary  on  such  occa- 
sions would  ring  true,  that  the  entertainments  would  be  in 
keeping  with  the  situation.  No  one  doubted  that  Brazil 
would  do  the  handsome  thing.  It  was  expected  that  the 
officials  would  exert  themselves  to  say  pleasing  things  and 
provide  receptions  and  dinners,  and  would  exchange  calls 
and  observe  punctiliously  all  the  niceties  that  international 
courtesy  demands.  But  no  one  expected  what  might  be 
called  strictly  an  uprising  of  the  people,  and  the  bestowal 
of  that  fiction  of  official  receptions  in  a  foreign  port, 
known  as  the  freedom  of  the  city,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
turn  fiction  into  fact. 

It  seemed  to  be  true  and  undoubtedly  was  true  that  the 
Americans  captured  Rio,  took  it  by  storm,  if  you  please ; 
it  did  not  seem  to  be  true  but  was  true  that  Rio  captured 
the  Americans  from  Admirals  down  to  coal  passers.  From 
the  hour  of  arrival  to  the  hour  of  departure  it  was  a  con- 
stant, an  incessant  exchange  of  friendship's  prisoners. 
Without  this  the  American  fleet  could  never  have  sailed 
away,  and  the  fears  expressed  in  the  United  States  when 
the  fleet  left  on  its  cruise  that  it  might  never  come  back  as 
a  unit  or  in  parts  would  have  been  realized. 

It  was  easy  as  a  matter  of  seamanship  to  sail  into  Rio 
harbor.  It  was  as  hard  a  job  as  any  American  Admiral 
ever  tackled,  as  a  matter  of  parting  with  friends,  to  sail 


88      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

out.  Any  American  President  who  may  order  a  fleet  of 
battleships  into  this  harbor  in  the  future  should  take  that 
matter  into  serious  consideration.  The  Americans  do  not 
want  to  lose  their  battleships.  Prudence  requires  caution 
hereafter  in  running  risks  with  Brazilian  hospitality. 

It  was  about  9  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  January 
12,  when  the  fleet  passed  Cape  Frio,  seventy-five  miles  to 
the  east  of  Rio.  Far  back  on  the  hills  is  a  signal  station. 
It  used  the  international  code  and  the  flags  that  snapped 
in  the  breeze  said: 

"  Welcome,  American  fleet !  " 

"  Sounds  pretty  good,"  said  a  signal  officer.  Then 
came  the  Yankton,  which  had  been  sent  on  ahead  to  meet 
Admiral  Evans  and  inform  him  of  the  plans  for  anchoring 
and  receptions  and  the  like.  Just  before  noon  three  Bra- 
zilian warships  were  observed  about  a  dozen  miles  out  from 
Rio.  On  they  came  and  bugles  were  sounded  and  rails 
manned  and  salutes  exchanged.  One,  two,  three,  and  so 
on,  went  the  guns  of  the  Brazilian  cruiser  that  led  the  two 
torpedo  boats.  One  by  one  the  reports  were  counted  care- 
fully, as  is  always  the  case  on  a  warship.  Thirteen  were 
boomed  out  and  then  came  another  and  another  and  then  a 
stop.  It  was  a  Vice-Admiral's  salute. 

Instantly  the  query  ran  through  the  fleet:  Has  Ad- 
miral Evans  been  promoted?  The  wiseacres  were  not  de- 
ceived. They  said  that  the  Brazilians  reasoned  that  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  any  fleet  the  size  of  this  should  be 
a  Vice-Admiral,  and  that  the  Brazilians  were  taking  no 
chances  in  not  being  sufficiently  polite  to  cover  any  con- 
tingency. 

Soon  the  mountains  immediately  surrounding  the  beau- 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME        89 

tiful  harbor  came  into  view.  A  dozen  steam  launches  had 
ventured  outside.  Then  came  the  careful  evolutions  of 
getting  into  exact  column  for  entering  the  harbor. 

The  day  was  beautiful,  old  Sugar  Loaf  and  Corcovado 
and  all  the  other  peaks  seemed  to  be  standing  up  with  the 
dignity  of  stiff  salutes,  and  then  came  a  peep  into  the  nar- 
row entrance  of  the  harbor.  The  place  was  alive  with 
small  boats.  The  signal  stations  were  all  aflutter  with 
welcome  flags. 

Slowly  the  Connecticut  led  the  way  and,  when  just  be- 
yond old  Fort  Santa  Cruz  on  the  eastern  side,  boomed  a 
salute  to  the  port.  From  a  little  rock  all  smoothed  off 
and  fairly  polished,  given  up  entirely  to  a  fort,  Ville- 
gagnon,  came  the  answering  salute.  Instantly  the  whis- 
tles of  hundreds  of  craft  were  set  loose  and  tied  down.  No 
American  has  ever  heard  such  a  shrieking  of  vessels  ex- 
cept at  the  international  yacht  races  off  Sandy  Hook.  The 
noise  at  Sandy  Hook  was  greater  because  the  number  of 
boats  about  was  greater ;  that's  the  only  reason.  How-de- 
do  and  welcome  came  from  big  and  little  craft  all  loaded 
down  with  people  in  their  Sunday  best,  if  they  have  such 
things  down  here.  Parenthetically  it  may  be  remarked 
that  judging  from  the  way  the  women  dress  for  street  wear 
every  day  is  Sunday  with  them  in  the  matter  of  clothes. 
There  were  half  a  dozen  boat  crews  out  in  eight-oared 
barges.  Launches,  rowboats,  steamers,  ferryboats,  sailing 
craft  of  all  kinds  were  just  inside  the  harbor  entrance. 

Soon  magnificent  Botafoga  Bay  unfolded  itself  with 
that  wonderfully  beautiful  long  reach  of  avenue,  Bairo- 
Mar,  running  four  miles  in  a  crescent  from  the  heart  of 
the  city  toward  Sugar  Loaf,  all  set  out  in  artistic  land- 


90      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

scape  treatment.  It  was  black  with  the  people.  Then  the 
fleet  approached  the  city  proper.  With  a  glass  one  could 
make  out  that  the  hills,  the  houses,  the  waterfront  were 
black  with  the  people.  As  Vice-Admiral  Maurity  after- 
ward said  in  a  speech : 

"  The  whole  of  the  population  of  Rio,  of  all  ages,  chiefly 
belonging  to  the  fair  sex,  could  not  avoid  going  out  of 
their  houses  to  crowd  the  neighborhoods  of  the  harbor,  the 
hills  and  islands  around  it,  and  all  other  points  of  view 
from  the  city  of  Rio  and  the  Nictheroy's  side,  in  order  to 
greet  the  passage  of  the  American  fleet  and  to  better  appre- 
ciate the  interesting  display  of  her  manoeuvres." 

Moreover,  the  population  had  been  waiting  there  prac- 
tically for  two  days.  The  fleet  was  scheduled  to  come  in 
on  Saturday.  All  of  Saturday  and  far  into  the  night  tens 
of  thousands  had  waited  upon  the  hills  and  waterfronts. 
They  were  back,  we  were  told,  early  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing and  they  blackened  and  whitened  the  entire  city.  The 
American  officers  were  almost  dumfounded.  What  does 
it  all  mean,  was  the  general  inquiry. 

On  steamed  the  Connecticut,  and  it  was  discovered  that 
there  was  a  German  cruiser,  the  Bremen,  in  the  harbor. 
More  salutes!  By  the  way,  it  may  be  remarked  that 
Admiral  Evans  got  the  Rear  Admiral's  salute  inside  the 
harbor,  the  proper  one  that  his  two-starred  flag  requires. 
He  got  another  Vice-Admiral's  salute  —  and  many  persons 
thought  it  was  a  delicate  hint  to  the  United  States  —  when 
the  Italian  cruiser  Puglia  came  in  a  day  or  two  later  and 
gave  him  fifteen  guns. 

When  the  ships  anchored  in  four  lines  opposite  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  city,  the  Brazilian  ships,  about  a  dozen  of 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME        91 

them,  were  anchored  inside.  Pratique  was  granted  within 
half  an  hour  of  the  time  of  the  anchoring,  which  required 
some  slow  manoeuvring  in  order  to  reach  the  exact  posi- 
tions. 

No  official  calls  were  made  that  night  because  it  was  well 
after  5  o'clock  when  the  last  anchor  was  down,  and  it  was 
Sunday.  The  populace  thronged  the  waterfront,  in  some 
places  ten  deep,  until  after  dark,  and  then  the  Brazilian 
ships  illuminated  in  honor  of  the  fleet.  Fireworks  were  set 
off  from  the  hilltops.  Still  the  people  stayed  on  the  water- 
front. Up  to  midnight  they  could  be  seen  in  thousands. 
They  were  there  when  daylight  came ;  if  not  the  same  ones, 
then  a  fresh  relay.  From  that  day  on  until  the  ships  left 
there  never  was  an  hour  when  the  waterfront,  especially  of 
the  city  proper,  was  not  thronged  with  the  people  looking 
at  the  ships. 

The  far  famed  Bay  of  Rio !  What  shall  be  said  about 
it?  Travellers  and  guide  books  have  told  of  its  beauties 
without  ceasing.  Every  well-informed  person  knows  that 
it  is  regarded  as  the  finest  in  the  world,  that  even  Naples  is 
dwarfed  in  these  descriptions  in  comparison.  It  is  worth 
while  to  recount  its  glories  again,  especially  as  it  revealed 
itself  to  naval  men. 

The  writer  knows  of  no  better  naval  twist  to  give  to  such 
a  description  than  was  written  by  Herman  Melville,  who 
entered  this  bay  on  the  United  States  frigate  United  States 
way  back  in  1843,  and  who  has  described  the  scene  in  his 
fascinating  book  "White  Jacket."  Nature  is  still  the 
same.  Old  Sugar  Loaf,  the  liberty  capped  Corcovado, 
literally  the  hunchback,  the  Organ  Mountains  and  all  the 
other  peaks  still  rear  their  heads  as  they  did  then  and  en- 


92      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

circle  Rio.  Here  is  what  Melville  wrote  from  a  naval 
standpoint : 

"  Talk  not  of  Bahia  de  Todos  os  Santos,  the  Bay  of  All 
Saints,  for  though  that  be  a  glorious  haven,  yet  Rio  is  the 
Bay  of  all  Rivers,  the  Bay  of  all  Delights,  the  Bay  of 
all  Beauties.  From  circumjacent  hillsides  untiring  sum- 
mer hangs  perpetually  in  terraces  of  vivid  verdure,  and 
embossed  with  old  mosses  convent  and  castle  nestle  in  valley 
and  glen. 

"  All  around  deep  inlets  run  into  the  green  mountain 
land,  and  overhung  with  wild  highlands  more  resemble 
Loch  Katrine  than  Lake  Leman,  yet  here  in  Rio  both  the 
loch  and  the  lake  are  but  two  wild  flowers  in  a  prospect 
that  is  almost  unlimited.  For  behold,  far  away  and  away 
stretches  the  broad  blue  of  the  water  to  yonder  soft  swell- 
ing hills  of  light  green,  backed  by  the  purple  pinnacles  and 
pipes  of  the  grand  Organ  Mountains  fitly  so-called,  for  in 
thunder  time  they  roll  cannonades  down  the  bay,  drowning 
the  blended  bass  of  all  the  cathedrals  in  Rio. 

"  Archipelago  Rio,  ere  Noah  on  old  Ararat  anchored  his 
ark,  there  lay  anchored  in  you  all  these  green  rocky  isles  I 
now  see,  but  God  did  not  build  on  you,  isles,  those  long  lines 
of  batteries,  nor  did  our  blessed  Saviour  stand  godfather 
at  the  christening  of  you,  you  frowning  fortress  of  Santa 
Cruz,  though  named  in  honor  of  Himself,  the  divine  Prince 
of  Peace. 

"  Amphitheatrical  Rio !  in  your  broad  expanse  might  be 
held  the  Resurrection  and  Judgment  Day  of  the  whole 
world's  men-o'-war,  represented  by  the  flagships  of  fleets 
—  the  flagships  of  the  Phoenician  armed  galleys  of  Tyre 
and  Sidon;  of  King  Solomon's  annual  squadrons  that 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME        93 

sailed  to  Ophir,  whence  in  aftertimes,  perhaps,  sailed  the 
Acapulco  fleets  of  the  Spaniards,  with  golden  ingots  for 
ballasting ;  the  flagships  of  all  the  Greek  and  Persian  craft 
that  exchanged  the  warhug  at  Salamis ;  of  all  the  Roman 
and  Egyptian  galleys  that,  eaglelike,  with  blood  dripping 
prows,  beaked  each  other  at  Actium;  of  all  the  Danish 
keels  of  the  Vikings ;  of  all  the  mosquito  craft  of  Abba 
Thule,  King  of  the  Pelaws,  when  he  went  to  vanquish  Artin- 
sall ;  of  aU  the  Venetian,  Genoese  and  Papal  fleets  that  came 
to  shock  at  Lepanto  ;  of  both  horns  of  the  Spanish  Armada ; 
of  the  Portuguese  squadron  that  under  the  gallant  Gama 
chastised  the  Moors  and  discovered  the  Moluccas;  of  all 
the  Dutch  navies  led  by  Van  Tromp  and  sunk  by  Admiral 
Hawke ;  of  the  forty-seven  French  and  Spanish  sail-of-the- 
line  that  for  three  months  essayed  to  batter  down  Gibral- 
tar; of  all  Nelson's  seventy-fours  that  thunderbolted  off 
St.  Vincent's,  at  the  Nile,  Copenhagen  and  Trafalgar;  of 
all  the  frigate  merchantmen  of  the  East  India  Company; 
of  Perry's  war  brigs,  sloops  and  schooners  that  scattered 
the  British  armament  on  Lake  Erie;  of  all  the  Barbary 
corsairs  captured  by  Bainbridge ;  of  the  war  canoes  of 
Polynesian  Kings,  Tamma-hammaha  and  Pomare  —  ay, 
one  and  all,  with  Commodore  Noah  for  their  Lord  High 
Admiral,  in  this  abounding  Bay  of  Rio  might  all  come  to 
anchor  and  swing  round  in  concert  to  the  first  of  the  flood. 
"  Rio  is  a  small  Mediterranean,  and  what  was  fabled  of 
the  entrance  to  that  sea,  in  Rio  is  partly  made  true,  for  here 
at  the  mouth  stands  one  of  Hercules's  Pillars,  the  Sugar 
Loaf  Mountain,  1,000  feet  high,  inclining  over  a  little 
like  the  leaning  tower  of  Pisa.  At  its  base  crouch  like 
mastiffs  the  batteries  of  Jose  and  Theodosia,  while  opposite 


94.  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

you  are  menaced  by  a  rock  bounded  fort.  The  channel  be- 
tween —  the  sole  inlet  to  the  bay  —  seems  but  a  biscuit's 
toss  over,  you  see  naught  of  the  landlocked  sea  within  until 
fairly  in  the  strait.  But  then  what  a  sight  is  beheld! 
Diversified  as  the  harbor  of  Constantinople,  but  a  thousand- 
fold grander.  When  the  Neversink  (the  frigate  United 
States)  swept  in  word  was  passed,  'Aloft,  topmen!  and 
furl  t  '-gallant  sails  and  royals ! '  At  the  sound  I  sprang 
into  the  rigging  and  was  soon  at  my  perch.  How  I  hung 
over  that  main  royal  yard  in  a  rapture!  High  in  air, 
poised  over  that  magnificent  bay,  a  new  world  to  my  rav- 
ished eyes.  I  felt  like  the  foremost  of  a  flight  of  angels 
new  lighted  upon  earth  from  some  star  in  the  Milky  Way." 

Few  men  on  this  fleet  felt  the  rapture  that  Melville  des- 
cribed so  poetically,  but  every  one  felt  a  thrill.  Had  Mel- 
ville lived  to  more  recent  times  he  might  have  included  the 
fleet  of  Farragut  and  Porter,  of  the  Austrians  and  Italians, 
of  the  Russians  and  Japanese,  of  the  Spanish,  in  that 
mighty  roll  call  of  the  ressurrection  of  fleets  of  the  world, 
for  surely  there  is  room  for  all. 

For  twenty  miles  up  there  is  deep  water  in  the  bay,  and 
hiding  places  too  among  the  365  islands,  one  for  every 
day  in  the  year,  that  stud  the  waters.  Santa  Cruz  and  all 
the  other  forts  Melville  mentions  are  still  there  and  a  dozen 
more  besides,  most  of  them  inside  the  harbor,  built,  as  one 
grim  fighter  on  the  American  fleet  said,  more  for  use 
against  domestic  than  foreign  foes.  The  very  situation  of 
those  forts  spells  out  fear  of  revolution,  but  that's  another 
matter. 

The  next  morning  after  arrival  came  the  unfolding  of 
Rio  to  the  visitors.  Even  those  who  had  visited  the  place 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME        95 

before  had  shaken  their  heads  solemnly  about  it.  The 
scenery  all  about  is  grand,  they  said,  wonderful,  but  the  city 
itself  —  well,  hands  were  raised  in  deprecation,  nostrils  di- 
lated, followed  by  a  sad  shake  of  heads.  Didn't  the  guide 
books  tell  you  it  was  a  foul,  ill  smelling  place?  Wasn't 
it  a  matter  of  course  that  the  city  would  be  reeking  with 
yellow  fever  in  this  its  midsummer  time? 

The  officials  told  the  fleet  officers  that  there  was  no  yellow 
fever  in  the  place.  Polite  expressions  of  surprise  with 
surreptitious  nudges  behind  the  back!  They  said  that 
the  city  had  been  transformed  in  the  last  four  years,  was 
well  paved  and  beautified  and  they  expressed  the  hope  that 
the  Americans  would  like  it.  More  expressions  of  polite 
surprise  and  assurances  that  the  city  always  was  at- 
tractive, with  more  nudges  behind  the  back.  And  then 
when  the  officials  went  back  to  shore  didn't  the  officers  make 
a  dive  for  the  ships'  libraries  and  read  facts,  real  facts, 
mind  you,  about  the  place?  Didn't  W.  E.  Curtis  write 
this  about  Rio : 

"  Viewed  from  the  deck  of  a  ship  in  the  harbor  the  city 
of  Rio  looks  like  a  fragment  of  fairyland  —  a  cluster  of 
alabaster  castles  decorated  with  vines;  but  the  illusion  is 
instantly  dispelled  upon  landing,  for  the  streets  are  narrow, 
damp,  dirty,  reeking  with  repulsive  odors  and  filled  with 
vermin  covered  beggars  and  wolfish  looking  dogs.  There 
is  now  and  then  a  lovely  little  spot  where  nature  has  dis- 
played her  beauties  unhindered  and  the  environs  of  the 
city  are  filled  with  the  luxury  of  tropical  vegetation ;  but 
there  are  only  a  few  fine  residences,  a  few  pleasant  prome- 
nades, and  a  few  clusters  of  regal  palms  which  look  down 
upon  the  filth  and  squalor  of  the  town  with  dainty  indif- 


96      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

ference.  The  palm  is  the  peacock  of  trees.  Nothing  can 
degrade  it,  and  the  filth  in  which  it  often  grows  only  serves 
to  heighten  its  beauty.  The  pavements  are  of  the  rough- 
est cobblestone;  the  streets  are  so  narrow  that  scarcely  a 
breath  of  air  can  enter  them,  and  the  sunshine  cannot  reach 
the  pools  of  filth  that  steam  and  fester  in  the  gutters, 
breeding  plagues." 

There  are  half  a  dozen  descriptions  such  as  that,  some 
of  them  as  recent  as  1900.  Oh,  yes,  the  Americans  knew 
what  kind  of  a  city  they  were  going  to  see.  Hadn't  some 
of  them  been  here  before?  Didn't  some  of  the  surgeons 
on  the  fleet  shake  their  heads  gravely  when  it  was  signalled 
from  the  flagship  that  there  would  be  general  liberty? 

What  did  the  Americans  find?  This  is  part  of  what  the 
Americans  saw ;  it  would  take  pages  to  tell  it  all : 

They  saw  one  of  the  cleanest  and  best  paved  cities  in  the 
world.  New  York  in  the  Waring  days  never  had  cleaner 
streets.  There  was  not  a  foul  smell  in  evidence.  There 
was  even  no  West  street  or  South  street  odor  along  the 
waterfront.  Where  the  streets  were  not  of  asphalt  they 
were  of  wood.  There  were  no  beggars  on  the  highways ; 
at  any  rate  the  Sun's  correspondent  did  not  see  one,  and 
he  spent  hours  ashore  every  day. 

The  old  part  of  town  still  has  its  narrow  streets,  the 
chief  of  which,  Ouvridor,  is  about  half  as  wide  as  Nassau 
street  and  which  no  vehicles  are  permitted  to  enter.  But 
the  great  surprise  of  all  was  the  magnificent  Central  ave- 
nue, built  within  the  last  four  years  right  through  the 
heart  of  the  city  from  north  to  south,  just  as  Napoleon 
built  highways  in  Paris,  connecting  at  the  south  with  the 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME        97 

great  sweeping  shore  boulevards,  where  the  beautiful  Mon- 
roe Palace  stands. 

This  new  avenue  rivals  anything  that  Paris  can  show. 
It  is  about  120  feet  wide,  with  sidewalks  fifteen  feet  broad. 
In  the  centre  are  lofty  lights  on  artistic  poles,  each  group 
set  in  a  little  isle  of  safety  filled  with  flowers  and  grasses 
and  plants.  The  architecture  along  the  avenue  is  harmo- 
nious throughout.  The  effect  is  imposing  and  makes  a 
New  Yorker  think. 

But  those  sidewalks !  It  is  mighty  fortunate  for  New 
York  that  she  has  none  like  them.  If  she  had,  the  psycho- 
pathic ward  in  Bellevue  would  have  to  be  enlarged  ten 
times  over  for  the  patrons  of  the  Great  White  Way. 

They  are  big  mosaics,  composed  of  small  pieces  of  black 
and  white  granite.  The  black  pieces  are  used  for  orna- 
mentation. Every  block  has  a  different  design.  Some 
have  zigzags,  others  curves  and  curlycues,  others  dragons 
and  starfish  (at  least  they  resemble  such),  others  swing  here 
and  there ;  others  are  straight,  until  you  feel  that  all  you 
need  is  a  brass  band  to  make  you  march ;  others  take  you  in 
swoops  this  way  and  that ;  arrows  and  daggers  point  them- 
selves at  you;  bouquets  in  stone  attract  you  until  you 
almost  feel  that  you  want  to  stoop  to  get  a  whiff;  but  the 
predominant  feeling  is  that  the  designs  were  sunk  for  sail- 
ors to  roll  back  to  the  ship  on,  heaving  to  occasionally  for 
bearings;  or  for  intoxicated  men  to  take  another  tack  in 
the  hope  of  finding  a  shorter  way. 

One  of  the  bluejackets  hit  this  particular  "  beach  "  one 
afternoon  after  he  had  been  drinking  too  much.  He 
stopped  short  and  called  to  his  mate,  a  few  feet  away : 


98      WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Bill,  come  here !  Take  me  away !  What  do  I  see  ? 
Look  at  'em !  Snakes  ?  Yes,  they  are  snakes !  I  got  'em ! 
Hit  that  big  feller  on  the  head !  It's  the  brig  f er  me  when 
I  get  back.  Take  me  away,  Bill!  Think  o'  the  disgrace 
o'  gettin'  the  jimjams  in  a  foreign  port.  Bowery  booze 
f  er  me  after  this !  Take  me  away,  Bill !  'Tain't  snakes  ? 
Honest?  Jes'  sidewalk?  'Ray  for  Brazil!" 

Then  the  bluejacket  got  on  his  knees  and  felt  to  make 
sure  it  was  "  jes'  sidewalk  "  while  a  crowd  of  Brazilians 
gathered  around  and  some  of  them  thought  Yankee  sailors 
either  had  queer  ways  of  investigation  or  of  making  their 
devotions  under  the  effect  of  libations  and  smiled,  and  in 
Portuguese  told  Bill  and  Tom  they  were  good  fellows. 

As  one  went  to  the  south  on  this  Central  avenue  he  came 
upon  the  nearly  finished  municipal  theatre,  one  of  the 
handsomest  playhouses  in  the  world  and  probably  the  larg- 
est in  the  western  hemisphere.  Then  came  the  new  pub- 
lic library  and  other  Federal  and  municipal  buildings  that 
are  being  erected  back  of  old  Castello  Hill,  where  the  first 
settlers  squatted,  and  the  remains  of  their  huddled  manner 
of  living  still  present  themselves  to  the  eye.  And  then 
one  came  to  the  white  Renaissance  pile,  the  strikingly  beaut- 
iful Monroe  Palace,  named  after  our  own  Monroe,  whose 
famous  doctrine  is  woven  into  the  woof  and  warp  of  the 
Brazilian  institutions. 

The  building  is  segregated  and  is  at  the  very  gate  of 
the  great  boulevard  system  fronting  on  the  bay.  It  is 
conspicuous  from  the  harbor.  Brazil's  flag  —  the  green 
field,  representing  luxuriant  vegetation;  the  yellow  dia- 
mond, representing  the  gold  and  other  mineral  wealth ; 
4he  broad,  banded  globe  of  blue  in  the  centre,  representing 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME       99 

the  dominion  of  Brazil,  with  one  star  above  the  equator 
for  its  single  State  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  and  other 
stars  in  the  south  portraying  the  southern  States,  and  also 
the  famous  constellation  of  the  Southern  Cross  at  a  certain 
significant  date  in  the  year  —  the  Brazilian  flag  flew  from 
the  dome  and  on  each  corner  were  large  American  flags. 

This  palace  is  where  the  Pan-American  Congress  met, 
where  Secretary  Root  made  a  profound  impression  in  his 
address.  Next  to  Roosevelt  the  name  of  Root  is  foremost 
on  the  lips  of  Brazilians.  His  visit  made  the  deepest  im- 
pression here.  It  is  still  talked  of,  even  on  the  highways. 
That  visit,  the  Monroe  Palace  and  the  visit  of  this  fleet  are 
bound  to  be  felt  for  years  in  the  expressions  of  genuine 
international  friendship  of  various  kinds  which  will  be 
made  between  the  two  great  republics  of  the  North  and 
South. 

Then  one  saw  the  boulevard  system.  Again  one  must 
repress  himself.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  city  in  the  world 
has  anything  like  it,  that  no  avenue  or  highway  is  more 
beautiful  and  imposing.  One  might  combine  the  beauties 
of  the  waterfront  of  Naples  and  Nice  or  of  any  spot  in 
the  Riviera  with  those  of  the  Shore  Drive  of  New  York's 
Narrows  and  Riverside  Drive  and  Lafayette  Boulevard  in 
New  York,  and  still  they  could  not  compare  with  this  beau- 
tifully ornamented  stretch  of  boulevard  that  curves  about 
the  bright  blue  bay. 

Illuminated  with  thousands  of  lights  at  night  the  effect 
from  the  harbor  is  that  of  a  long  crescent  of  diamonds 
flashing  upon  the  forehead  of  the  bay.  No  one  who  has 
ever  seen  this  highway  of  miles  with  its  palatial  dwellings 
fronting  upon  it  and  set  back  against  the  hills  can  ever 


100  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

forget  it.  It  wasn't  here  when  Melville  wrote,  but  truly 
it  makes  the  city  Amphitheatrical  Rio ! 

Then  the  Americans  began  to  wander  about  the  city. 
The  narrow  streets  in  the  business  district  are  like  those 
of  Havana  and  many  other  cities  of  people  of  Latin  de- 
scent. Through  this  part  of  town  run  little  mule  propelled 
tramways  with  the  narrow  rails  so  close  to  the  sidewalks  that 
when  the  tram  is  crowded  to  the  side  steps  there  is  danger 
of  sweeping  the  passengers  off  by  passing  pedestrians. 
The  visitors  saw  the  cafes,  real  cafes,  where  the  principal 
drink  is  coffee,  "  strong  as  the  devil,  as  black  as  ink,  as 
hot  as  hell  and  as  sweet  as  love." 

Some  of  the  Americans  liked  the  coffee,  but  the  wise 
ones  confined  their  drinking  to  limeades.  Then  the  visitors 
saw  the  many  crowded  cinematograph  shows,  the  crowded 
shops,  the  powdered,  and  what  Americans  would  call  over- 
dressed women,  the  panorama  of  the  highways,  the  news- 
boys, the  hundreds  of  lottery  shops. 

But  above  all  else  they  noted  the  clean  condition  of 
things.  They  asked  if  it  was  a  sudden  spurt  of  cleanliness 
and  were  told  that  it  was  not.  They  asked  how  about 
these  new  streets  and  the  extensive,  harmonious  and  com- 
prehensive building  that  is  going  on.  It  was  declared 
to  be  part  of  a  broad  policy  that  has  been  in  progress  for 
four  or  five  years,  part  of  a  plan  to  make  Rio  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  cities  in  the  world,  a  plan  to  make  it  fit  the 
magnificent  surroundings  which  nature  has  provided  for 
it.  American  opinion  was  all  summed  up  in  this  general 
expression : 

"  As  handsome  a  city  as  I  ever  saw." 

It  was  when  the  bluejackets  went  ashore  that  the  Ameri- 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  W?LCpjME   iilpljj 

cans  began  to  realize  what  Brazil's  welcome  really  meant. 
The  boys  landed  with  a  whoop  and  began  to  scatter. 
Sailorlike  some  of  them  headed  for  the  saloons,  but  the 
people  expected  that  and  were  surprised  that  more  of  them 
didn't  fall  by  the  wayside.  Most  of  the  men,  however, 
went  in  for  rational  enjoyment.  They  crowded  the  post 
card  emporiums,  they  bought  fruit  and  trinkets,  they  piled 
on  the  tramways  and  went  any  old  place  so  long  as  it  was 
somewhere. 

They  filled  the  streets,  the  cinematograph  places.  Yes, 
they  hired  automobiles  and  rode  about  like  nabobs  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  natives,  who  must  have  wondered  at  the 
princely  wages  the  United  States  paid  its  men.  They  went 
to  the  best  restaurants  and  hotels.  Everywhere  they  were 
welcomed.  "  English  spoken  here  "  was  a  frequent  sign. 
They  were  even  allowed  to  loll  on  the  grass  of  the  many 
beautiful  parks,  an  act  that  costs  a  native  a  fine  of  from 
five  to  fifteen  milreis.  They  were  respectful  to  all,  but 
they  had  a  commanding  way  about  them  that  took.  They 
owned  the  town ;  they  knew  it,  but  did  not  attempt  to  take 
the  slightest  advantage  of  it. 

As  the  days  went  by  and  one  saw  the  behavior  of  these 
bluejackets  his  American  heart  was  filled  with  pride  over 
them.  They  were  clean,  intelligent,  manly,  open,  as  fine 
a  brand  of  sailor  as  ever  wore  a  uniform,  obeyed  an  order 
or  sported  their  money  lavishly  in  a  foreign  port. 

The  first  thing  that  greeted  the  eye  of  every  man  who 
landed  at  the  beautiful  park  that  used  to  be  an  eyesore  in 
the  central  part  of  the  waterfront  was  a  big  sign  reading : 

"  Information  Bureau  for  American  Seamen." 

It  was  an  information  bureau,  a  real  one.     It  was  the 


;!<?»  WI^H  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

most  useful  kind  of  a  welcome  ever  provided  in  a  foreign 
port  for  the  sailors  of  any  people.  The  American  and 
English  residents,  aided  by  those  of  other  countries,  had 
been  busy  preparing  for  weeks  for  the  visit  of  Jack  ashore. 
Every  safeguard,  every  assistance  that  was  possible  to  make 
his  liberty  comfortable,  profitable,  enjoyable  was  looked 
after.  It  took  hard  cash  to  do  it,  but  the  money  was 
raised  and  it  amounted  to  thousands  of  dollars. 

In  the  first  place,  the  ferry  company  to  Nictheroy  set 
apart  a  large  room  in  its  commodious  new  building. 
Counters  were  put  up  for  information  booths,  postal  card 
booths,  exchange  of  money,  sale  of  various  kinds  of  tickets 
for  things  with  guides  by  the  score  and  attendants  anxious 
to  answer  all  kinds  of  questions.  Men  and  women  worked 
there  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day  for  ten  days  in 
the  stifling  heat,  all  eager  to  be  of  assistance  to  Jack  ashore. 
A  pamphlet  was  provided  giving  a  map  of  the  city  and 
displaying  all  the  chief  places  of  interest.  Full  informa- 
tion was  printed  about  everything  that  a  man  bent  on  ra- 
tional enjoyment  could  desire.  The  pamphlets  told  all 
about  transportation,  about  the  places  to  see,  about  postage 
and  the  many  general  and  special  excursions  that  had  been 
planned. 

Jack  soon  found  it  out  and  he  rushed  there  in  throngs. 
He  found  long  tables  in  the  room  with  free  writing  paper, 
ink,  pens,  mucilage,  and  down  he  sat  to  write  to  sweetheart 
or  wife.  Then  he  went  to  change  his  money.  Here  he 
struck  a  snag.  A  dollar  is  worth  3,200  reis.  One  of  the 
sailors  got  a  $10  note  changed.  He  received  in  exchange 
32,000  reis.  He  was  astonished. 

"  Here,  fellers !  "  he  shouted,  "  I  got  32,000  reis  for  $10. 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME      103 

Gee,  whiz!  Me  for  Wall  Street!  When  kin  I  get  a 
steamer  home,  mister?  Holy  Moses!  I've  got  rich  and 
I  didn't  know  it." 

Jack  found  out  quickly  that  he  wasn't  rich,  for  Rio  is 
just  now  fairly  oppressed  with  enormously  high  prices, 
due,  it  is  said,  to  paying  heavy  taxes  for  all  the  improve- 
ments that  have  been  going  on.  He  found  that  he  had  to 
pay  300  reis  for  an  ordinary  postage  stamp,  400  reis  for 
a  glass  of  limeade,  about  800  reis  for  a  handkerchief  or 
a  collar,  and  as  for  a  bottle  of  beer,  that  was  good  for  a 
thousand  reis  or  so,  and  the  money  began  to  melt  quickly. 
But  what  did  Jack  care?  It  was  an  automobile  for  him, 
or  something  equally  expensive.  What's  the  use  of  being 
an  American  man-o'-war's  man  if  you  can't  act  like  a  mil- 
lionaire for  an  hour  or  so  in  a  foreign  port? 

When  the  money  was  changed  Jack  found  out  the  full 
value  of  these  self-sacrificing  men  and  women  who  *  had 
done  so  much  for  his  comfort.  He  got  a  fair  exchange 
for  his  money  and  wasn't  robbed.  This  committee  had 
provided  him  with  guides  to  all  sorts  of  places  free  of 
charge,  had  made  up  excursion  parties  all  over  the  city 
and  the  surrounding  country,  had  provided  rubbernecks  — 
and  how  Jack  did  grin  when  he  saw  the  familiar  things 
—  carriages,  special  trams  and  what  not ;  had  provided 
for  the  sale  of  meal  tickets,  the  best  postal  cards,  had  co- 
operated with  the  police  to  look  for  stragglers. 

Well,  Jack  smiled  and  smiled,  and  he  knew  he  was  in  the 
hands  of  his  friends.  The  Prefect  of  the  city,  Gen.  Souza 
Aguiar,  was  chairman  of  the  committee,  and  all  the  lead- 
ing Americans  and  Englishmen  joined  in.  Especially  ac- 
tive was  the  acting  Consul-General  of  the  United  States, 


104  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

J.  J.  Slechta,  and  Myron  A.  Clark,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  sec- 
retary. The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  here  is  affiliated  with  the  Sands 
street  branch  in  Brooklyn.  The  placards  told  Jack  all 
about  it,  and  the  first  thing  he  asked  was  if  Miss  Gould  had 
helped  to  pay  the  expenses.  He  was  told  that  she  had 
not,  because  she  had  probably  not  been  informed  about  it. 
He  answered  invariably: 

"  Betch'r  sweet  life  she  would  if  she'd  known  about  it. 
'Ray  for  Helen  Gould!" 

Here  is  a  summary  of  what  work  was  done  for  our  sailors 
by  this  bureau  in  ten  days: 

Eight  thousand  sheets  of  paper  and  5,000  envelopes  pro- 
vided free  of  charge,  21,000  guides  to  the  city  printed  and 
circulated,  about  175,000  postage  stamps  sold,  nearly 
2,000  meal  tickets  sold,  3,500  special  excursions  provided, 
these  in  addition  to  the  many  general  excursions;  about 
$175,000  exchanged  at  the  lowest  possible  rates,  about 
170,000  post  cards  sold,  about  2,000  automobile  trips  ar- 
ranged. 

So  Jack  and  all  the  others  of  the  fleet  went  sightseeing. 
They  went  to  Petropolis,  the  summer  capital,  with  its  tem- 
perate climate,  in  the  tropics,  and  only  twenty-two  miles 
away,  up  back  of  the  Organ  Mountains.  You  climb  the 
heights  on  a  cog  railroad,  just  as  you  climb  Pike's  Peak, 
and  you  see  the  magnificent  views  of  valleys,  the  bay,  the  ra- 
vines and  gulches  that  would  do  credit  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. Jack  and  his  mates  went  to  Corcovado  in  throngs, 
starting  on  trolleys  that  crossed  the  famous  old  aqueduct 
back  of  the  hills  right  in  the  city  and  climbed  on  and  up 
around  the  city  for  miles  with  scarce  a  hundred  feet  of 
straight  track.  Then  they  took  the  steep  cog  railroad, 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME      105 

and  after  a  time  found  themselves  poised  on  the  peak  2,300 
feet  above  the  city,  with  this  place  of  800,000  inhabitants 
and  its  bay  and  the  sea  all  spread  out  before  them  in  prob- 
ably the  most  fascinating  panorama  that  the  world  pre- 
sents. They  visited  the  wonderful  botanical  garden,  with 
its  magnificent  avenue  of  royal  palms  and  its  flower  beds, 
its  trees,  its  ferns,  a  truly  royal  place.  One  of  the  young 
officers  told  what  he  thought  of  this  garden  when  he  said : 

"  When  I  get  married  I  am  going  to  come  down  here 
and  march  up  that  mile  of  palms  for  the  aisle  in  God's 
church.  It  will  be  the  finest  setting  for  the  finest  bride 
in  the  world.  The  newspapers  needn't  take  the  trouble 
to  mention  the  bridegroom's  name.  That  of  the  bride 
linked  with  the  majestic  aisle  will  be  sufficient." 

And  so  one  might  go  on  and  on  into  raptures  and  ex- 
travagant expressions.  The  people's  gracious  mood 
matched  their  city  and  the  visitors  were  simply  overwhelmed 
with  hospitality  on  every  side. 

The  sailors  grew  to  the  situation.  Day  by  day  there 
were  fewer  signs  of  too  much  drinking.  Occasionally  a 
man  or  two  would  overstep  the  bounds,  but  the  authorities 
saw  to  it  that  the  Americans  handled  their  own  men  in  that 
condition. 

Only  one  incident  marred  the  visit,  and  it  was  a  pity 
that  any  mention  of  it  was  cabled  to  the  United  States. 
After  that  had  been  done  it  was  necessary  to  send  the  truth 
and  correct  misapprehension.  It  was  on  the  first  night  of 
liberty.  It  was  merely  a  saloon  brawl.  A  native  negro 
had  a  row  with  another  and  threw  a  bottle  at  him.  The 
second  dodged  it  and  the  bottle  struck  one  of  our  seamen 
at  a  table  and  hurt  him.  He  got  after  the  negro,  who 


106  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

escaped.  Back  the  negro  came  with  a  razor  and  fell  upon 
the  first  bluejacket  he  saw. 

Several  of  the  best  petty  officers  on  one  of  the  ships 
jumped  in  to  quell  the  disturbance.  The  rabble  thought 
they  jumped  in  to  fight.  Stones  were  thrown  and  three  of 
the  peacemakers  were  hurt.  The  local  police  didn't  size 
up  the  situation  and  were  slow  to  act.  They  arrested  the 
negro,  but  let  him  go.  After  that  they  said  it  was  a  de- 
plorable blunder. 

Liberty  was  recalled  at  once  and  marines  were  sent  ashore, 
but  it  was  soon  over,  and  the  next  morning  at  the  request 
of  the  authorities  2,000  men  were  sent  ashore  instead  of 
1,000  daily  as  had  been  planned.  The  men  were  warned  to 
conduct  themselves  properly,  and  to  the  everlasting  credit 
of  our  American  seamen  it  must  be  said  they  heeded  the 
caution  well. 

An  illustration  of  what  might  have  been  occurred  on  the 
night  of  Sunday,  January  19.  Rival  political  clubs  were 
parading  about  town  carrying  banners  and  flags  and  also 
giving  cheers  of  "  Vivan  los  Americanos !  "  They  invited 
a  lot  of  bluejackets  to  join  them.  Not  knowing  what  the 
parades  meant,  good  natured  Jack  of  course  would  go 
along.  About  twenty  of  them  joined  each  of  two  proces- 
sions and  had  the  distinction  of  carrying  the  flags  and 
hurrahing  every  other  step.  It  was  great  fun.  The  naval 
officers  on  shore  heard  of  what  was  going  on  and  dashed  up 
in  automobiles.  The  Brazilians  would  not  let  their  dear 
friends  go  and  the  officers  had  a  hard  time  to  get  the  men 
free.  They  at  once  obeyed  instructions  to  scatter,  and 
said  they  were  simply  having  a  good  time  with  their  new 
friends. 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME      107 

Ten  minutes  later  those  two  parades  minus  the  blue- 
jackets came  into  a  collision  and  there  was  quite  severe 
rioting,  with  stone  throwing  and  the  use  of  knives  and 
bludgeons.  Had  the  bluejackets  remained  innocently  with 
the  parades  they  would  have  been  in  the  thick  of  it  and 
terrible  reports  would  probably  have  been  cabled  to  the 
United  States  of  our  sailors  mixing  in  political  affairs, 
probably  instigating  revolution  and  being  most  awful 
rioters.  It  was  a  narrow  escape  to  get  them  away  in  time. 

By  the  end  of  the  week  so  completely  had  good  feeling 
been  established  that  from  4,000  to  5,000  men  were  sent 
ashore  on  Sunday.  It  was  the  largest  liberty  party  of 
American  sailors  ever  known.  New  York  never  saw  so 
many  of  our  men  ashore  at  one  time.  It  made  one  proud 
of  his  country  and  its  men  to  see  that  party  ashore.  There 
were  not  twenty  cases  of  drunkenness  when  the  boys  came 
home. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  cordial  and  warmhearted, 
more  lavish,  than  the  entertainments  given  in  the  name  of 
the  Brazilian  Government.  The  one  regret  was  that  Ad- 
miral Evans,  because  of  an  attack  of  his  recurrent  malady, 
rheumatism,  was  unable  to  take  part  in  them  personally. 
Admiral  Thomas  took  his  place  admirably. 

The  tone  of  all  the  official  greetings  was  that  of  undis- 
guised friendship.  President  Penna  made  it  manifest  on 
the  first  day  when  he  met  the  officers  at  Petropolis.  Then 
Vice-Admiral  Cordovil  Maurity  voiced  it  in  English  on  the 
top  of  Corcovado  the  next  day,  and  perhaps  it  is  well  to 
give  his  speech  in  full.  Here  it  is  as  translated  for  the 
Americans : 


108  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Ladies,  His  Excellency  Vice-Admiral  the  Minister  of  Marine, 
Gallant  Admirals,  Captains  and  officers  of  the  Navy  of  the  U.  S.  A., 
Gentlemen : 

In  my  character  of  Admiral  of  the  Brazilian  Navy,  Chief  of  the 
General  Staff  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Fleet,  as  well  as  with 
the  authority  of  an  old  sailor,  who  knows  the  rules  of  military  and 
diplomatic  pragmatic,  I  feel  very  happy  in  this  moment,  to  speak 
to  you,  American  sailors,  in  the  name  of  my  Government,  of  the 
Brazilian  people  and  of  my  comrades  of  the  National  Navy,  in 
order  to  salute  and  give  the  hearty  welcome  to  Admiral  R.  Evans, 
the  Commander-in-Chief,  Admirals  Charles  Sperry,  Charles  Thomas 
and  William  Emory,  the  Captains,  Officers  and  Crews  of  the  powerful 
North  American  fleet  that  entered  the  day  before  yesterday  in  the 
harbour  of  Rio. 

I  beg  then  to  avail  myself  of  this  fine  opportunity,  when  we  are 
just  gathered  at  the  summit  of  Corcovado,  at  800  metres  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  to  present  the  warmest  demonstration  of  sym- 
pathy and  friendship  towards  our  brothers  of  the  great  Navy  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  as  a  general  and  sincere  greeting 
spontaneously  born  from  the  core  of  the  Brazilian's  hearts.  The 
real  proof  of  this  true  assertion  of  mine  you  have  just  met  during 
the  solemn  occasion  of  the  triumphal  entrance  of  your  brilliant  fleet, 
the  most  efficient  naval  strength,  up  to  the  present,  that  has  ever 
been  seen  crossing  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  getting  into 
waters  of  the  bay  of  Guanabara. 

Indeed,  it  was  such  an  important  naval  scene,  such  a  splendid 
maritime  spectacle,  that  the  whole  of  the  population  in  Rio,  of  all 
ages,  chiefly  belonging  to  the  fair  sex  could  not  avoid  going  out 
their  houses  to  crowd  the  neighbourhoods  of  the  harbour,  the  hills 
and  islands  around  it,  and  all  other  points  of  view  from  the  city 
of  Rio  and  the  Nictheroy  side,  in  order  to  greet  the  passage  of 
the  American  fleet  and  to  better  appreciate  the  interesting  display 
of  her  manoeuvres.  So,  I  may  assure  you,  gentlemen,  with  my  ex- 
perience of  a  sea  man,  that  the  splendor  of  the  scenery  just  alluded 
to,  in  combination  with  the  singular  and  natural  beauties  of  the 
bay  of  Guanabara,  in  which  you  were  fraternally  received  with  open 
arms,  by  the  mild  people  all  classes  of  our  society,  was  of  the  sort  of 
those  fairy  things  impossible  to  be  described,  written  or  spoken  about. 

Yes,  gentlemen,  the  peaceful  commission  of  your  fleet  waving  the 
star  spangled  banner  of  the  great  Republic  of  the  United  States  of 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME      109 

America  around  this  continent  of  ours  and  training  the  crews  of 
her  men-of-war  across  the  largest  and  deepest  oceans,  is  certainly  an 
act  of  very  right  naval  policy,  chiefly  on  the  behalf  of  order  and  dis- 
cipline of  industry,  labor  and  trade,  of  diplomacy  and  fraternal 
comity,  and,  at  last,  it  means  an  exchange  of  civilisation  amongst  the 
peoples  of  the  several  countries  of  the  young,  immense  and  futurous 
continent  of  both  Americas. 

Therefore,  I  raise  my  cup  for  the  health  and  prosperity  of  the 
sister  Navy  of  the  United  States  of  America,  one  of  the  mightiest 
and  more  illustrious  of  the  world,  whose  sacred  emblem  in  command 
and  perfect  sisterhood  with  ours,  let  God  grant  may  float  side  by 
side  —  ever  for  ever  and  ever  —  for  the  benefit  of  universal  peace 
and  general  comfort  of  mankind. 

President  Penna  again  made  the  welcome  plain  when  he 
said  at  his  luncheon  the  day  following  to  the  Admirals  and 
several  Captains  at  Petropolis: 

The  warm  and  fraternal  welcome  which  the  people  of  the  capital 
of  the  republic  have  given  to  the  American  fleet  which  is  now  visit- 
ing us  ought  to  prove  how  deep  and  sincere  the  sympathy  and  friend- 
ship which  the  Brazilian  nation  feels  for  its  great  and  prosperous 
sister  of  North  America. 

These  are  no  fleeting  or  transitory  sentiments,  since  they  date 
from  the  hour  of  our  birth  as  a  nation  and  are  ever  growing  in 
strength.  Every  day  the  bonds  of  friendship  and  of  trade  between 
the  two  nations  are  drawn  closer. 

When  the  South  American  peoples  proclaimed  their  independence, 
at  that  moment  so  fraught  with  misgivings  and  uncertainty  as  to 
the  future,  the  young  American  republic  gave  them  strength  by 
solemnly  declaring  the  intangible  unity  of  the  peoples  of  the  new 
world  through  the  declaration  of  their  great  President  Monroe, 
whose  name  figures  in  history  with  brilliance  as  a  statesman  of  great 
perception  and  of  rare  political  foresight. 

The  long  and  difficult  voyage  of  the  powerful  fleet  which  to-day 
is  the  guest  of  Brazil,  necessitating  as  it  does  the  doubling  of  the 
American  continent,  is  a  fresh  and  splendid  evidence  of  the  un- 
equalled vigor  and  the  extraordinary  energy  of  the  great  power  which 
is  a  friend  of  Brazil. 

With  an  expression  of  ardent  and  sincere  wishes  for  the  fortunate 


110  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

continuation  of  the  voyage  of  the  friendly  fleet  I  drink  to  the  glo- 
rious American  navy,  to  the  prosperity  of  the  republic  of  the 
United  States  of  America  and  to  the  personal  happiness  of  its  emi- 
nent chief,  that  great  statesman,  President  Roosevelt. 

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  added  to  all  this  in  the 
great  banquet  given  to  the  officers  later  in  the  Monroe  Pal- 
ace when,  after  offering  a  toast  to  President  Roosevelt,  he 
said: 

The  ancient  sympathies  between  the  American  and  Brazilian 
navies,  added  to  by  these  deeds  of  war,  could  not  fail  to  be  aug- 
mented, until  the  point  they  have  attained  by  the  beneficial  force  of 
the  increasing  approximation  between  the  two  friendly  peoples.  In 
Norfolk  and  Washington  last  year  the  unequivocal  demonstrations 
made  to  our  officers,  which  the  American  Government  so  expressly 
associated  itself  with,  caused  the  Brazilian  gratitude  and  indebted- 
ness; and  it  is  to-day  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that  in  the  enter- 
tainments promoted  by  the  Brazilian  Government,  by  our  navy,  and 
by  our  society  the  people  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  welcome  the  American 
sailors  with  the  same  spontaneous  enthusiasm  with  which  they  saluted, 
in  his  memorable  passage  by  this  country,  the  eminent  propagandist 
of  peace  and  of  continental  concord,  Mr.  Root. 

Brazil  is  grateful  for  the  visit  of  her  Northern  friends,  arrived 
here  in  these  powerful  men  of  war,  which,  according  to  the  fine 
expression  of  President  Roosevelt,  are  messengers  of  friendship  and 
good  will,  commissioned  to  celebrate  with  us  the  long  continued  and 
never  to  be  broken  amity  and  mutual  helpfulness  of  the  two  great 
republics. 

I  invite  my  countrymen  here  present  to  unite  with  me  in  the  name 
of  the  Brazilian  nation  and  its  Government  in  a  toast  to  the  gallant 
American  navy,  an  example  of  skill  and  military  discipline,  a  model 
of  devotion  to  their  country,  and  a  formidable  guardian  of  the  im- 
mense prestige  of  the  Great  Republic,  the  pride  of  the  continent. 

The  same  thing  was  iterated  and  reiterated  in  hundreds 
of  private  dinner  parties.  It  received  its  most  vociferous 
expression  on  January  16  at  a  smoker  given  to  the  officers 
of  the  fleet  at  the  Park  Fluminense,  an  outdoor  music  hall 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME      111 

with  a  mere  roof  covering  and  a  stage,  set  in  a  garden. 
It  was  like  the  outdoor  suburban  amusement  places  in  which 
St.  Louis  and  other  of  our  Western  cities  abound.  Four 
bands  of  the  ships  were  massed  at  the  entrance  to  the  pa- 
vilion. An  immense  American  shield  was  lighted  with 
electricity. 

The  flags  of  Brazil  and  England  and  the  United  States 
were  entwined.  The  place  was  reserved  exclusively  for 
American  officers  and  their  hosts.  They  had  an  unusually 
good  vaudeville  show  and  in  the  intervals  our  combined 
band  played.  Beer  and  cigars  were  served,  and  soon 
things  began  to  warm  up.  When  a  medley  of  patriotic 
American  airs  was  played  the  cheers  began  to  rise.  They 
could  have  been  heard  for  blocks.  Soon  Annapolis  songs 
and  yells  and  shouts  were  being  given.  In  the  intermis- 
sions the  place  fairly  rocked  with  the  songs  and  yells  of 
old  days.  Men  who  had  been  tablemates  for  months  shook 
hands  with  one  another  as  if  they  had  just  met  after  a 
prolonged  separation.  Speeches  were  going  on  at  a  dozen 
places  at  once. 

Then  came  the  close.  Our  bands  first  played  the  Bra- 
zilian national  hymn.  What  a  job  that  is  will  be  told 
later.  A  great  outburst  of  cheers  followed  after  every 
man  had  ceased  to  stand  at  attention.  The  Brazilians  were 
beside  themselves  with  joy.  Then  came  "  God  Save  the 
King !  "  Every  one  could  sing  that,  and  while  standing  at 
attention  a  mighty  chorus  of  song  rolled  out.  More  fran- 
tic cheering! 

Then  came  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner."  Profound 
silence  was  observed  to  the  last  note.  When  the  salute 
was  finished  a  cyclone  roar  followed.  Men  jumped  on 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

chairs  and  yelled  and  yelled.  Hats  went  into  the  air. 
The  Brazilians  and  English  could  not  be  contained.  A 
score  of  men  were  on  tables,  each  trying  to  take  command 
of  the  occasion,  each  calling  for  three  cheers  for  this  person 
and  that,  for  this  country  and  that.  None  heard  the 
others,  but  it  was  a  grand  acclaim  of  good  fellowship  and 
intense  patriotism. 

One  little  Brazilian  called  for  three  cheers  for  President 
Roosevelt.  The  Sun  man  heard  him  because  he  was  only 
two  feet  away.  The  cheers  rolled  out  and  the  Brazilian 
thought  he  had  taken  the  place  by  storm,  and  was  as  happy 
as  a  child,  but  the  cheers  were  simply  a  part  of  all  that 
was  going  up  and  meant  for  everybody  and  everything  in 
the  way  of  international  friendship.  It  was  a  night  that 
stirred  one. 

And  so  the  visit  wore  on,  and  it  was  a  pretty  tired  crowd 
of  guests  and  hosts  before  the  finish  came.  Probably  the 
weariest  men  on  the  ships  were  the  bandmasters  who  strug- 
gled through  the  bars  of  the  Brazilian  national  hymn. 
No  disrespect  is  meant,  but  those  Americans  who  are  clam- 
oring for  a  new  national  hymn  ought  to  hear  what  the 
Brazilians  have  to  put  up  with  and  then  rest  themselves 
content  for  all  time  with  what  we  have. 

In  the  first  place  the  Brazilian  hymn  is  so  long  that 
when  you  are  playing  it  as  a  Brazilian  warship  passes  the 
Brazilian  gets  out  of  hearing  and  almost  out  of  sight 
before  you  finish.  After  a  few  struggles  with  the  music 
the  orders  were  given  on  some  ships  to  shorten  up  if  the 
other  ship  was  out  of  hearing  and  save  the  wind  of  the 
players.  Then  too  it  is  queer  music.  It  goes  hippety  hop 
—  it  seems  a  combination  of  waltz  and  march,  of  anthem 


BRAZIL'S  ENTHUSIASTIC  WELCOME 

and  jig.  It  may  be  music,  but  the  writer  of  this  is  frank 
to  say  that  the  Japanese  national  hymn,  with  its  weird 
swoops  and  dives,  curls  and  twists,  seems  like  a  gliding 
Strauss  waltz  compared  with  the  Brazilian  hymn.  One  of 
the  bandmasters  on  the  fleet  complained  that  his  men  could 
not  play  it  properly. 

"  Musish  no-a  good,"  he  said.  "  No  Italian  musish 
players.  All  come  from  Kalamazoo,  bah !  " 

The  Brazilians  had  hard  struggles  with  the  names  of 
our  warships.  Minnesota,  Louisiana  and  such  were  all 
right,  but  Connecticut  staggered  them.  They  made  almost 
as  bad  as  a  mess  of  it  as  when  they  pronounced  the  name  of 
the  High  Life  Club  here  or  the  Light  and  Power  Company. 
The  Brazilian  name  for  the  High  Life  Club  is  Higgie 
Leaffie  Cloob.  That  of  the  Light  and  Power  concern  is 
Liggety  Poor  Companee.  Let  it  go  at  that.  The  reader 
must  imagine  how  they  pronounced  Connecticut,  for  it 
can't  be  put  down  on  paper. 

The  departure  of  the  fleet  bids  fair  to  be  even  more 
spectacular  than  the  one  at  Hampton  Roads,  only  the 
powder  and  smoke,  and  the  blare  of  the  bands  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  show  will  be  in  honor  of  another  President  than 
our  own.  When  the  last  gun  has  boomed  it  will  mean  not 
only  good-by  to  President  Penna  and  Brazil,  but  it  will 
be  the  blackthroated  response  of  14,000  American  sailors 
to  Rio.  The  guns  will  declare  Rio  to  be  not  only  the  City 
of  All  Delights  but  the  City  of  All  Hospitality. 


CHAPTER  VI 

NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA 

Unique  Meeting  of  United  States  and  Argentine  Ships  300  Miles 
From  Land  —  Grand  Naval  Spectacle  —  High  Honors  for  Ad- 
miral Evans  and  Cordial  Greetings  for  All  His  Men  —  Fine  Dis- 
play of  Seamanship  on  South  American  Vessels  —  Picturesque 
Incidents  of  the  Voyage  From  Rio  to  the  Most  Southern  City  in 
the  World  —  Nature  Put  on  Mourning  as  the  Farewells  Were  Said 
and  Signalled  at  Brazil's  Capital  —  The  Man-o'-War  Mail  From 
Home. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

PUNTA  ARENAS,  CHILE,  Jan.  31. 

THE  passage  of  the  battle  fleet  from  Rio  to  this  the 
southernmost  city  of  the  world  was  marked  by  a 
marine  spectacle  unprecedented,  so  far  as  any  one 
in  this  fleet  can  recall,  in  naval  annals.  A  squadron  of  the 
Argentine  navy  came  out  hundreds  of  miles  to  greet  our 
ships,  and  probably  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
navies  national  salutes  were  fired  upon  the  high  seas. 
Squadrons  and  fleets  have  passed  one  another  before  time 
and  time  again,  and  honors  have  been  exchanged,  the  flags 
of  flag  officers  have  been  saluted,  but  after  these  courtesies 
have  been  finished  they  have  gone  their  separate  ways,  all 
official  proprieties  having  been  observed. 

But  this  greeting  was  so  unusual  that  Admiral  Evans 
set  a  new  naval  fashion,  and  after  his  flag  had  been  sa- 

114 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  115 

luted  —  seventeen  guns,  by  the  way ;  the  number  increases 
on  the  way  around,  and  if  the  warships  keep  it  up,  each 
one  giving  the  Rear  Admiral  more  and  more  guns,  he  will 
soon  be  an  Admiral  of  the  fleet  in  the  thundered  judg- 
ment of  other  nations,  no  matter  what  action  Congress  may 
take  —  he  ordered  the  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  for  the 
Argentines.  The  Argentine  ships  gave  full  justification, 
for  they  had  manned  the  rails  on  approaching  our  ships, 
an  honor  paid  ordinarily  only  to  the  head  of  a  nation. 

Admiral  Evans  met  this  unusual  compliment  by  choosing 
to  regard  it  as  an  honor  to  our  nation,  not  a  personal 
matter,  and  he  fired  twenty-one  guns,  to  which  the  Argen- 
tine flagship  responded  at  once.  In  addition  to  those 
honors  the  crews  of  the  various  ships  cheered  one  another  as 
they  passed.  It  was  all  different  from  the  accepted  rule  of 
fleets  or  squadrons  in  passing  and  it  left  a  fine  feeling. 

"  I  never  saw  sentiment  carried  so  far  in  all  my  naval 
experience,"  said  one  man  who  will  soon  have  the  right  to 
hoist  a  two-starred  Rear  Admiral's  flag.  "  Perhaps  it  was 
unusual,  but  it  was  impressive;  it  was  impressive." 

Our  fleet  had  no  sooner  reached  Rio  than  Admiral  Evans 
was  informed  that  the  Argentine  ships  would  come  out 
from  Buenos  Ayres  to  greet  him  on  the  way  to  Punta 
Arenas.  Three  days  before  sailing  inquiries  were  made  as 
to  his  probable  course  and  the  hour  when  he  would  be  off 
the  mouth  of  the  River  Plata.  The  information  was  cabled 
duly  and  our  fleet  held  itself  in  readiness  to  do  the  proper 
and  handsome  thing  for  this  unusual  occasion.  Saturday, 
January  525,  was  almost  a  wonder  day  at  sea.  The  air, 
which  had  been  accumulating  a  chill  under  cloudy  skies 
and  an  eastern  wind,  became  balmy  and  the  sea  was  as 


116  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

smooth  as  a  pond.  The  sky  remained  overcast  and  the 
fleet  had  been  running  for  three  days  practically  by  dead 
reckoning.  Late  on  Saturday  night  the  fleet  overtook  the 
tender  Yankton  and  the  "  beef  boats,"  Glacier  and  Culgoa. 
They  were  ordered  to  take  their  places  with  the  fleet  and 
when  everybody  except  those  on  watch  went  to  sleep  it  was 
expected  that  the  three  smaller  craft  would  be  in  their 
places  in  the  morning.  But  the  wise  weather  sharps  who 
know  this  region  sniffed  the  air  and  said: 

"  Weather  breeder !  " 

Sure  enough  at  daybreak  a  heavy  sea  began  rolling 
across  from  the  southern  coast  of  Africa  and  the  wind  be- 
gan to  blow.  Before  7  o'clock  the  ships  were  plunging 
and  making  heavy  weather  of  it.  On  the  log  books  it  was 
set  down  as  a  moderate  gale.  The  waves  sometimes  were 
twenty-five  feet  high.  The  ships  with  quarter  decks  cut 
down  were  smothered  with  spray  and  solid  water  from  time 
to  time.  The  ships  rolled  very  little  —  never  in  the  strong- 
est gale  have  the  ships  of  the  Connecticut  class  at  least  had 
their  tables  racks  in  place  —  but  they  yawed  and  dipped, 
as  all  ships  in  heavy  weather  are  expected  to  do.  The 
Yankton  and  Culgoa  were  not  in  sight.  The  weather  had 
been  too  much  for  the  little  Yankton  and  she  was  ordered 
to  slow  down  and  the  Culgoa  was  told  to  stand  by  her. 
The  air  was  thick  with  rain  squalls  and  mist  and  a  more 
miserable  day  could  hardly  be  imagined. 

The  morning  wore  on  and  nothing  was  heard  from  the 
Argentine  ships. 

"  Guess  the  sea  was  too  much  for  them,"  was  the  general 
comment.  According  to  our  reckoning  we  had  passed  the 
thirty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude,  right  off  the  Plata,  just 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  117 

before  noon.  We  were  also  in  the  proper  longitude,  but 
all  was  thick,  and  the  general  supposition  was  that  the  Ar- 
gentine fleet  had  met  our  torpedo  flotilla,  which  was  more 
than  a  day  ahead  of  us,  and  had  escorted  that  into  the 
Plata. 

It  was  just  about  1  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  a  wire- 
less message  was  received  from  the  Culgoa  saying  that  the 
Argentine  ships  were  asking  him  by  wireless  for  our  longi- 
tude and  latitude.  The  figures  were  sent  back  promptly. 
Their  figures  were  also  given  and  some  error  was  made  in 
transmission.  It  was  figured  that  they  were  something  like 
110  miles  to  the  south  and  a  little  to  the  west  of  us.  The 
weather  began  to  moderate  and  then  the  opinion  was  that 
if  they  steered  straight  for  us  we  ought  to  meet  them  about 
6  o'clock  that  Sunday  evening.  But  about  4  o'clock  there 
came  another  message  from  the  Culgoa,  saying  they  were 
about  five  miles  from  that  ship  and  going  southwest,  the 
same  course  as  ours.  It  was  a  surprise. 

Admiral  Evans  also  received  by  wireless  through  the 
Culgoa  this  message  of  greeting  from  Admiral  Oliva,  in 
command  of  the  Argentine  ships : 

Jan.  26,  1908,  2  p.m. 
To  Rear  Admiral  Evans: 

The  commander  of  the  San  Martin  division  of  the  Argentine  navy 
salutes  Rear  Admiral  Evans,  his  officers  and  men,  and  transmits  to 
him  the  position  of  the  Argentine  division  ordered  to  meet  him  as  by 
dead  reckoning  latitude  36°  46'  S.,  longitude  53°  41'  W. 

HIPOLITO  OLIVA. 

To  this  greeting  Admiral  Evans  sent  this  response: 

Jan.  26,  1908,  2:43  p.m. 
To  Rear  Admiral  Oliva: 
Rear  Admiral  Evans  thanks  the  chief  of  the  Argentine  division 


118  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

for  his  courtesy  and  begs  that  he  will  transmit  to  the  Argentine 
Government  his  thanks  for  sending  a  naval  division  to  meet  the 
United  States  fleet. 

EVANS. 

Then  came  another  surprise.  The  Culgoa  told  us  that 
the  Argentine  ships  were  steaming  at  the  rate  of  fourteen 
and  a  half  knots  and  were  only  fifteen  knots  away. 

"  Fourteen  and  a  half  knots,  eh !  "  was  the  open  eyed 
and  arch  browed  comment.  "  Wonder  how  long  they  can 
keep  that  up!  Pretty  smart  that  for  a  South  American 
squadron ! " 

The  sun  burst  out  from  the  clouds  half  an  hour  before 
sunset  and  the  navigators  got  satisfactory  observations 
and  it  was  possible  to  send  back  our  exact  position.  The 
Argentines  had  been  groping  around  for  us  up  to  that  time 
and  the  best  they  could  do  was  to  find  the  Culgoa  and  the 
Yankton.  The  long  twilight  of  the  high  latitude  in  mid- 
summer followed,  but  just  after  8  o'clock  the  Connecticut 
sent  a  signal  to  the  fleet  and  immediately  shot  its  after 
searchlight  high  in  the  heavens.  It  caught  the  clouds  miles 
and  miles  back,  a  brilliant  beam.  Then  came  another 
signal  to  the  fleet  and  instantly  the  after  searchlights  of  all 
sixteen  ships  were  combined  in  a  monstrous  shaft  of  light 
that  cleft  a  path  gleaming  with  the  brilliance  of  a  comet's 
tail  through  the  lowering  clouds.  It  vibrated  and  pul- 
sated with  the  glow  of  an  aurora  borealis  and  every  quiver 
and  dart  seemed  to  say  to  the  Argentines: 

"  Here  we  are !  Here  we  are !  Follow  this  and  you'll 
find  us.  We're  only  going  ten  knots  an  hour.  You'll 
soon  catch  up.  Hurry  along ;  we'll  be  glad  to  see  you." 

For  twenty  minutes  that  extract  of  the  sun  bored  into 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  119 

the  clouds  behind,  showing  the  way.  It  was  a  veritable  pil- 
lar of  fire  by  night.  The  combined  smoke  of  all  the 
smokepipes  of  the  fleet  would  have  made  a  pretty  good 
pillar  of  cloud  by  day  had  it  been  clear,  but  it  was  too  late 
for  that  now.  Shortly  before  9  o'clock,  well  astern,  the 
faint  light  of  a  ship  could  be  made  out  with  the  naked 
eye.  The  quartermaster  on  the  bridge  said  there  were 
four  lights.  Word  was  sent  to  the  Captain  —  the  usual 
rule  when  any,  vessel  is  sighted  —  and  the  news  spread 
about,  and  soon  dozens  of  men  were  straining  their  eyes  to 
see  the  four  lights.  By  a  little  after  10  o'clock  all  had 
become  so  plain  that  it  was  said  the  ships  were  within  five 
miles.  They  came  a  little  nearer  and  then  slowed  down  for 
the  night,  keeping  the  same  speed  as  our  ships. 

When  daylight  came  on  Monday,  January  27,  one  of 
the  fairest  days  nature  ever  provided,  with  a  crisp  south- 
west breeze,  corresponding  to  the  northwest  breeze  with  us. 
every  breath  of  it  a  tonic,  the  Argentine  ships  were  about 
three  miles  astern  of  us.  Shortly  before  7  o'clock  Admiral 
Evans  ordered  a  double  evolution.  The  fleet  was  in  four 
divisions  abreast,  an  Admiral  leading  each  division.  The 
second  and  fourth  divisions  were  slowed  down,  and  then  by 
an  oblique  movement  two  squadrons  were  formed.  These 
again  were  shifted  into  one  column  of  sixteen  ships  pro- 
ceeding wing  and  wing.  The  colors  were  hoisted  at  the 
gaff  and  the  Argentines  showed  their  beautiful  blue  and 
white  ensigns. 

Soon  the  Argentines  were  observed  to  put  on  more  speed. 
The  naval  day  begins  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning.  No 
greetings  would  be  passed  before  that  time.  The  Argen- 
tine ships  kept  creeping  up,  and  when  the  first  passed  the 


•120  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Kentucky,  the  last  ship  in  our  column,  to  starboard,  it  was 
seen  that  her  rails  were  manned.  The  Argentine  ships  were 
in  war  color,  dark  olive  green.  Their  crews  were  in  white. 
Our  crews  had  been  shifted  to  blue  in  the  chilly  blow  of  the 
day  before,  but  our  ships  were  white. 

Up  along  the  line  came  the  Argentines.  Every  ship 
had  received  a  signal  to  pay  the  usual  honors.  Marine 
guards  were  drawn  up,  the  crews  were  at  attention,  the 
bands  on  our  ships  played  the  Argentine  national  hymn 
and  the  bands  on  the  four  Argentine  vessels  played 
ours. 

Sixty-four  times  the  national  air  of  each  country  was 
played  as  the  Argentines  slowly  forged  ahead.  Many  of 
the  officers  had  got  out  the  naval  books  to  recognize  the 
ships  of  the  visitors,  as  they  might  be  called.  Most  of  the 
officers  made  them  out  correctly.  They  were  two  armored 
cruisers  of  the  Cristobal  Colon  class  and  two  protected 
cruisers.  They  were  the  San  Martin,  Buenos  Ayres, 
Pueyrredon  and  9  de  Julio,  and  they  made  a  smart  show, 
each  having  a  bone  in  her  teeth.  They  were  at  intervals 
of  1,000  yards,  and  they  kept  the  intervals  as  accurately  as 
American  ships  would  have  done,  and  that  is  saying  a 
great  deal,  as  any  one  can  testify  who  has  seen  this  fleet 
sweep  into  a  foreign  harbor. 

The  San  Martin  had  passed  the  Louisiana  and  Vermont 
and  was  abreast  of  the  Kansas  and  just  behind  the  Con- 
necticut, and  about  a  thousand  yards  to  the  westward,  when 
up  went  the  American  ensign.  It  was  a  beautiful  new  flag, 
and  the  bright  sun  lit  up  its  folds  gloriously.  The  ensign 
could  scarcely  have  looked  better  upon  Old  Ironsides. 
Then  a  gun  barked  out  the  first  detonation  of  the  salute. 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA 

One  by  one  the  guns  were  counted.  Thirteen  roared  out. 
Then  came  another  flash  and  report. 

"  Hello !  They're  going  to  follow  the  Brazilians'  ex- 
ample and  give  Admiral  Evans  a  Vice-Admiral's  salute," 
was  the  comment. 

Fifteen  guns  sounded  and  then  came  another  flash  and 
boom.  Then  there  was  another  and  then  they  stopped. 
Well!  The  Americans  were  surprised.  An  Admiral's  sa- 
lute! 

"  They  do  things  in  their  own  way  down  here,"  was  the 
comment,  and  to  this  was  added  invariably :  "  Wish  it  was 
really  true,"  for  it  must  be  recorded  here  in  a  spirit  of  ac- 
curacy that  there  is  not  an  officer  or  sailor  or  marine  on  this 
fleet  who,  if  he  had  his  way,  would  not  make  Admiral  Evans 
not  only  a  vice  but  a  full  Admiral.  It  is  the  honest  opinion 
of  this  fleet  that  he  deserves  to  be  at  least  a  Vice-Admiral. 
The  men  in  the  fleet  do  not  think  it  becoming  to  have  the 
Commander-in-Chief  fly  a  Rear  Admiral's  flag,  a  sight  that 
would  not  be  seen  in  any  other  navy. 

The  Connecticut  responded  to  the  salute  gun  for  gun,  as 
was  quite  proper  as  naval  things  go.  The  salute  from  the 
San  Martin  had  scarcely  ceased  before  the  men  on  the  Ar- 
gentine ships  broke  into  cheering,  and  well  they  might,  for 
they  were  looking  upon  a  naval  spectacle  such  as  few  other 
navies  have  ever  seen.  The  San  Martin  crept  up  beside 
the  Connecticut,  forged  ahead  and  then  the  Connecticut 
with  the  Argentine  ensign  at  the  main  fired  the  usual  salute 
to  the  flag  of  another  country  upon  the  high  seas.  It  made 
the  men  familiar  with  the  etiquette  of  salutes  jump.  It 
was  thrilling  to  them.  The  San  Martin  answered  quickly 
and  the  exchange  of  courtesies  with  guns  and  bands  and 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

manning  of  rails  was  ended.  But  not  all  the  exchange  was 
over.  The  wireless  keys  were  ticking  now  and  this  message 
came  from  Admiral  Oliva  to  Admiral  Evans: 

Jan.  27,  1908,  8:28  a.m. 
To  Rear  Admiral  Evans: 

Having  completed  the  honorable  duty  with  which  I  am  charged 
by  my  Government,  I  am  about  to  part  company  for  Buenos  Ayres, 
and  it  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  transmit  any  despatches  for 
Admiral  Evans. 

OLIVA. 

Admiral  Evans  sent  this  reply: 

Jan.  27,  1908,  8:57  a.m. 
To  Rear  Admiral  Oliva: 

The  Commander-in-Chief  thanks  you  and  the  Argentine  Govern- 
ment most  heartily  for  the  graceful  honor  done  his  fleet.  He  will 
thank  you  to  transmit  to  Washington  upon  your  arrival  in  port  that 
we  are  all  well  and  proceeding  to  our  destination  in  the  Pacific. 
He  wishes  you  a  pleasant  cruise. 

EVANS. 

A  further  exchange  of  good  wishes  for  pleasant  trips 
followed. 

Then  the  Argentine  ships  sheered  off.  They  did  it  most 
politely.  Although  their  destination  was  more  than  300 
miles  to  the  rear,  they  turned  a  right  oblique,  the  move- 
ment being  done  in  a  way  that  excited  the  admiration  of 
the  Americans,  and  went  off  in  the  same  general  direction 
in  which  our  fleet  was  travelling. 

"  Don't  want  to  turn  their  backs  on  us ! "  was  the  ex- 
planation given.  In  toward  the  coast  they  went,  and  not 
until  they  were  nearly  hull  down  did  they  turn  about  and 
head  for  home.  It  was  a  pretty  compliment  from  most 
polite  men  on  extremely  smart  ships. 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  123 

"  That's  a  real  navy ! "  said  the  Americans,  "  even  if  it 
is  small!" 

Coming,  as  the  exchange  of  greetings  did,  upon  the  first 
bright  day  after  the  departure  of  our  fleet  from  Rio  amid 
gloom  and  other  depressing  surroundings,  it  warmed  up 
the  hearts  of  those  on  the  fleet  and  the  cheers  for  the  Ar- 
gentine Republic  and  her  navy  were  genuine  expressions 
of  good  will. 

All  that  day  and  the  day  following  the  high  seas  greet- 
ing of  the  Argentines,  the  ocean  was  remarkable  for  its 
placidity.  It  was  about  as  boisterous  as  the  heaving  bil- 
lows of  famous  Cheesequake  Creek  under  a  hot  summer  sun. 
On  the  night  of  the  second  day  of  this  there  came  indi- 
cations of  a  change.  The  sea  lumped  itself  a  little,  the 
wind  changed  and  on  the  following  morning,  Wednesday, 
January  29,  there  came  the  first  experience  with  fog  on 
this  voyage.  The  ships  had  been  manoeuvred  into  a  differ- 
ent formation  from  that  on  the  way  to  Rio.  The  four  ves- 
sels of  the  first  division  were  abreast  at  400  yards  interval, 
with  the  flagship  as  right  guide.  The  three  other  divisions 
followed  each  at  1,600  yards  distance,  the  flagship  of  each 
division  acting  as  right  guide  and  directly  behind  the  Con- 
necticut. It  was  a  very  open  formation  and  seemed  to  fill 
the  entire  circle  of  the  horizon. 

Along  about  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  a  fog  bank  was 
noticed  directly  ahead.  The  temperature  had  risen  about 
10  degrees.  The  day  was  clear  but  a  blanket  of  mist 
hung  over  the  water.  There  was  no  time,  even  had  there 
been  any  inclination  to  do  so  on  the  flagship,  to  order  the 
fleet  into  exact  column  and  put  over  the  towing  spars, 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

whereby  each  ship  can  tell  when  it  is  exactly  400  yards 
astern  of  its  predecessor. 

Orders  were  given  to  turn  on  searchlights  in  case  the 
ships  were  obscured  from  one  another.  It  wasn't  long 
before  each  ship  was  cut  off  from  the  rest.  Then  came 
the  turning  on  of  searchlights.  One  naturally  would 
think  that  this  would  be  almost  farcical  when  the  sun  was 
shining,  but  not  so.  Those  bright  little  suns  could  be 
seen  on  the  ships  near  by,  gleaming  through  the  mist, 
when  the  outlines  of  a  ship  only  400  yards  away  could 
not  be  made  out.  You  could  keep  your  distance  easily  in 
this  way.  You  knew  where  your  nearest  neighbor  was, 
and  often  you  could  make  out  the  position  of  two  or  three 
of  your  neighbors.  The  lights  looked  like  reflections  of 
the  sun  in  a  mirror,  only  slightly  obscured.  You  can  see 
that,  you  know,  any  time  a  looking  glass  is  used  in  day- 
light, as  many  a  small  boy  has  found  out  when  he  plays 
pranks.  The  glare  from  the  ships  was  truly  a  beacon  in 
the  gloom,  and  it  made  you  feel  comfortable  as  you 
thought  of  the  dangers  of  navigating  those  immense  ships 
in  close  proximity  in  a  treacherous  fog. 

Sometimes  the  fog  would  lift  and  you  could  get  a  view 
of  the  ships  of  your  own  division.  Occasionally  the  ships 
of  the  division  behind  you  would  be  revealed  in  the  same 
way.  Then  would  come  another  thick  bank  and  you 
would  be  shut  out  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  then 
you  would  take  particular  notice  of  the  signalling  by  whis- 
tles. Each  ship  would  sound  its  own  letter  by  the  toots 
which  made  the  number  corresponding  to  its  letter.  This 
is  the  way  it  would  go: 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  125 

Connecticut  — Letter  F  —  Toot,  toot  — toot,  toot  — toot,  toot  — 
t-o-o-t! 

Kansas  —  Letter  S  —  Toot,  toot  —  t-o-o-t  —  toot,  toot. 
(Vermont  —  Letter  R  —  Toot,  toot  —  t-o-o-t  —  t-o-o-t. 
Louisiana  —  Letter  W  —  T-o-o-t  —  t-o-o-t  —  toot,  toot  —  t-o-o-t. 

The  Connecticut  would  sound  her  signal.  Then  across 
the  line  could  be  heard  the  signal  of  the  Kansas,  and  then 
the  Vermont  would  sound  hers  and  then  the  Louisiana 
would  get  busy.  After  a  short  interval  the  whistling 
would  be  repeated.  This  and  the  searchlights  made  it 
possible  to  keep  the  line  well  fixed.  The  quartermasters 
were  taking  special  pains  to  steer  the  exact  course  that  had 
been  set.  You  saw  how  nicely  it  all  worked  out  when  the 
fog  lifted,  and  there  would  be  the  leading  ships  almost 
exactly  in  line,  ploughing  their  ways  to  the  southwest,  just 
as  if  there  had  been  no  interception  of  vision.  One 
glimpse  of  this  really  fine  work  reassured  you  at  once  and 
you  began  to  think  that  a  fleet  of  warships  all  huddled 
close  together  in  a  thick  fog  was  not  in  the  unsafe  predica- 
ment you  had  fancied  it  to  be.  About  noon  the  fog  lifted 
entirely  as  the  sun  burned  it  away.  One  evening  later 
there  was  about  twenty  minutes  of  fog,  but  that  was  the 
end  of  this  kind  of  experience  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

For  five  days  before  Cape  Virgin  was  sighted  at  the 
eastern  end  of  the  Strait  of  Magellan  the  change  in  the 
temperature  became  marked.  The  thermometer  went 
down  to  the  fifties.  The  air  became  bracing.  Gradually 
all  white  was  eliminated  from  the  uniforms.  You  put  on 
your  overcoat  and  sweater  when  you  went  on  the  bridge  to 
stay.  You  slept  under  a  blanket  at  night.  Then  you 
closed  your  port.  You  rubbed  your  fingers  together  to 


126  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

warm  them  up  in  the  morning.  Preparations  were  made 
for  turning  on  steam.  Only  the  cranks  took  a  cold  shower 
bath  in  the  morning. 

The  men  showed  the  change  from  the  enervating  cli- 
mate of  the  tropics  to  the  bracing  one  of  the  lower  tem- 
perate zone  by  their  sprightly  movements.  All  hands  felt 
good,  as  the  saying  is.  We  had  gone  from  the  beginning 
of  winter  at  home,  with  the  snowstorms,  into  the  oppres- 
sive heat  of  the  equator,  and  now  we  were  back  in  the 
weather  conditions  of  the  Nova  Scotia  coast  in  midsum- 
mer, only  the  cold  winds  were  from  the  south  off  the  Ant- 
arctic ice,  instead  of  from  the  frozen  north,  as  at  home. 

Things  do  get  turned  around  in  this  Southern  Hemis- 
phere, sure  enough.  It  was  strange  to  see  the  moon  curv- 
ing itself  from  east  to  west  in  the  northern  sky.  We  have 
already  crossed  the  line  of  the  sun  and  that  is  beginning 
to  steal  off  to  the  north,  although  it  is  almost  directly 
overhead  at  meridian.  You  see  new  stars  —  such  bright 
ones!  —  with  the  beautiful  Southern  Cross  as  the  most 
conspicuous  constellation,  just  now  in  such  a  position  that 
it  has  its  top  turned  toward  the  eastern  horizon  as  if  to 
point  toward  Jerusalem.  The  winds  come  from  an  un- 
usual direction  and  you  soon  become  so  mixed  that  you 
are  not  sure  whether  a  clear,  brilliant  sunset  with  a  dry  air 
is  an  augury  for  clear  weather  on  the  morrow. 

Cape  Virgin's  fine  headland  came  in  sight  on  Friday 
morning,  January  31.  It  was  thought  desirable  to  swing 
ships  before  the  strait  was  entered,  and  then  it  was  too 
late  to  try  to  make  the  run  through  the  eastern  part  of 
the  strait  to  Punta  Arenas,  about  120  miles,  with  the  first 
and  second  narrows,  that  day,  and  so  we  anchored  for  the 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  127 

night  in  Possession  Bay,  a  great  open  sheet  of  water,  with 
the  Patagonian  mountains  to  the  north.  Early  this  morn- 
ing we  started  on  the  first  leg  of  the  picturesque  passage 
that  Magellan  first  revealed  to  the  world,  and  this  afternoon 
came  to  anchor  here. 

The  departure  of  our  fleet  from  Rio  was  dramatic  rather 
than  spectacular.  Nature  took  a  hand  in  the  snapping 
of  the  heartstrings  and  scolded  and  wept  copiously.  It 
was  precisely  as  if  an  overwrought  woman  had  been  keep- 
ing a  smiling  face  up  to  the  last  moment  before  the  part- 
ing with  some  one  close  to  her  heart  whom  she  might  never 
see  again  and  then  giving  way  to  hysterical  weeping  and 
even  lamentations,  her  face  turned  away  after  one  look 
and  covered  with  a  veil  except  for  an  occasional  peep  until 
the  loved  one  was  out  of  sight. 

The  morning  had  been  blistering  hot.  Shore  leaves 
had  expired  at  9  o'clock,  all  were  aboard  except  those  sent 
ashore  to  look  out  for  any  stragglers  that  had  not  re- 
ported and  the  mail  orderlies  who  took  off  the  last  missives. 
By  10  o'clock  the  seams  in  the  decks  of  the  ships  were 
exuding  pitch.  President  Penna  of  Brazil  was  expected 
to  come  down  the  bay  soon  after  noon  to  call  upon  Ad- 
miral Thomas  on  the  Minnesota.  About  11:30  one  of 
those  delightful  sea  breezes  that  make  the  summer  after- 
noons in  Rio  not  only  tolerable  but  even  attractive  sprang 
up  and  every  one  was  happy. 

Just  before  noon  it  was  observed  that  a  few  fog  banks 
with  darkening  edges  were  being  swept  in  over  the  tops 
of  Sugar  Loaf  and  Corcovado.  It  was  soon  a  little  low- 
ery  in  the  southern  horizon.  Then  the  word  was  passed 
that  the  Presidential  yacht  was  approaching.  At  a  sig- 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

nal  from  the  flagship  the  long  lines  of  flags  used  to  dress 
ship  were  swayed  aloft  and  all  the  American  battleships, 
the  Brazilian  ships,  the  Italian  cruiser  and  the  German 
cruiser  in  port  suddenly  were  alive  with  snapping  pen- 
nants from  bows  to  taffrails.  The  American  ensign  was 
at  the  fore  and  the  Brazilian  ensign  at  the  main  of  our 
ships. 

The  saluting  signal  came  and  the  3-inch  guns  on  the 
ships  roared  out  a  welcome  of  twenty-one  guns  on  each 
vessel  to  the  President.  Slowly  the  yacht  approached  the 
fleet  and  began  to  encircle  it,  passing  first  on  the  side 
opposite  from  Rio.  The  Louisiana  was  the  first  ship  to  be 
passed.  The  rail  was  manned  with  men  with  locked  arms, 
the  band  played  the  Brazilian  national  air,  the  officers 
stood  at  salute.  Then  the  Virginia  was  passed  and  the 
same  greeting  was  repeated.  Down  around  the  line  the 
yacht  went  until  it  drew  up  near  the  Minnesota  on  the 
opposite  side.  A  launch  steamed  off  to  get  the  President. 
As  he  approached  the  Minnesota  gave  him  twenty-one 
more  guns. 

Then  the  fleet  gave  itself  up  to  final  preparations  for 
departure.  Twenty  minutes  later  the  Minnesota  fired  an- 
other salute  to  mark  the  President's  leavetaking.  He  went 
to  the  Brazilian  cruiser,  Benjamin  Constant,  which,  with 
the  rest  of  the  Brazilian  ships,  sixteen  in  number,  was  to 
escort  the  American  fleet  out  of  the  harbor.  By  that  time 
the  clouds  had  begun  to  descend  from  the  hills,  the  wind 
to  blow  in  gusts  and  a  few  raindrops  to  fall.  It  was  seen 
that  the  waterfront  was  black  with  people.  Then  sharp 
dashes  of  rain  swept  over  the  city  and  hid  it  from  view. 
The  clouds  fell  upon  the  shore  in  great  fog  banks. 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  129 

The  President  by  this  time  had  gone  to  Fort  Villegag- 
non,  the  naval  station  in  the  harbor  half  a  mile  from  the 
beautiful  Flamingo  boulevard  and  beach.  The  starting 
signal  for  the  American  fleet  was  given  precisely  at  3 
o'clock.  Anchors  were  aweigh  on  the  minute.  The  har- 
bor was  so  thick  and  black  that  one  could  scarcely  see 
1,000  yards.  With  the  black  smoke  of  the  funnels  of  the 
ships  being  swept  down  upon  the  water  an  inky  darkness 
spread  itself  over  everything,  and  often  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty that  the  ship  ahead  at  400  yards  could  be  made  out 
clearly. 

As  one  ship  after  another  swung  in  toward  Villegagnon 
and  thundered  her  twenty-one  good-by  guns  the  rain  de- 
scended in  sheets.  If  the  President  was  reviewing  the 
fleet  no  one  on  board  could  see  him.  Rio  was  wiped  out. 
The  thunder  peals  from  Sugar  Loaf  and  Corcovado  at 
times  outroared  those  of  the  guns.  Nature  was  saluting 
in  angry  tones.  She  seemed  indignant  that  the  fleet  was 
going  away  and  made  no  bones  about  saying  it.  From 
'way  back  on  the  north  where  the  majestic  Organ  Moun- 
tains nearly  pierce  the  clouds  there  came  the  roar  of  pro- 
test. 

The  mountain-encircled  city  was  surely  giving  way  to 
hysteria.  Sackcloth  and  ashes  were  in  evidence,  the  furi- 
ously driving  fog  clouds  being  the  sackcloth  and  the  soot 
from  smoke  of  funnels  and  powder  blasts  being  the  ashes. 
Half  the  ships  had  passed  Villegagnon  when  the  rain  be- 
came a  patter  suddenly  and  the  veil  was  lifted  from  Rio. 
The  waterfront  was  still  black.  The  people  had  stood 
there  for  nearly  an  hour  in  a  driving  rain.  Their  flutter- 
ing handkerchiefs  could  be  seen  plainly. 


130  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

More  and  more  the  clouds  lifted  and  once  or  twice  old 
Corcovado  and  Sugar  Loaf  peeped  out  as  if  for  a  final 
look.  Then  they  hid  their  faces.  Soon  the  entire  Ameri- 
can fleet  could  be  made  out  in  the  murky  atmosphere. 
At  last  the  line  became  clear.  Directly  behind  it  came  the 
line  of  Brazilian  ships.  They  added  their  salutes  to  the 
noise  of  the  day,  in  passing  Villegagnon,  but  nature  had 
ceased  to  cry  out ;  the  thunder  was  over. 

Down  at  the  harbor  entrance  were  launches,  rowboats, 
sailing  craft,  ferryboats,  yachts  and  several  ocean-going 
liners,  all  loaded  down  with  people.  Dozens  of  them  went 
outside  with  the  fleet  and  rolled  and  tossed  about  while 
their  occupants  waved  and  shouted  good-bys.  Some  of 
the  little  craft  ran  close  to  the  ships  in  the  hope  of  saying 
a  frantic  last  good-by  to  the  American  friends  they  had 
made  at  private  dinner  parties  and  receptions.  A  mist 
soon  settled  upon  the  water  and  finally  blotted  the  harbor 
entrance  from  view.  The  Brazilian  ships  following  were 
made  out  from  time  to  time.  The  good-by  was  over  and 
every  one  was  glad. 

It  was  entirely  different  from  the  Hampton  Roads  de- 
parture. There  was  a  President  present  at  each  place, 
but  there  were  twice  as  many  ships  roaring  out  salutes  at 
Rio.  There  were  twenty  times  as  many  people  on  shore. 
Nature  smiled  at  Hampton  Roads ;  nature  not  only  sulked 
but  made  a  pitiable  exhibition  of  her  uncontrolled  anger  and 
grief  at  Rio.  The  fresh  breezes  crinkled  out  the  flags  and 
made  them  beautiful  at  Hampton  Roads ;  the  driving  gusts 
tore  ensigns  to  ribbons  at  Rio  and  made  a  prolonged  job 
of  mending  bunting  on  all  the  ships. 

When  darkness  was  beginning  to  fall  and  speed  cones 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA 

had  been  lowered  and  masthead  and  other  lights  had 
been  turned  on  a  steamship  was  noticed  coming  out 
of  the  mist  behind  the  fleet.  She  was  alive  with  bunt- 
ing and  ran  straight  toward  the  middle  of  the  fleet.  Close 
at  hand  she  began  a  great  tooting  of  the  whistle.  She  was 
one  of  the  ocean-going  vessels  that  had  been  chartered  for 
the  good-by,  and  she  had  run  nearly  twenty-five  miles  in 
the  thick  weather  for  a  final  glimpse  and  farewell  shriek. 
Rio  certainly  hated  to  let  the  fleet  go.  Hospitality  such 
as  the  Brazilians  showed  was  never  experienced  by  an 
American  fleet,  or  probably  any  other  nation's,  before. 
It  is  likely  to  pass  down  as  one  of  the  brightest  spots  in  our 
naval  annals. 

The  farewell  had  a  double  side.  The  emotions  of  the 
Americans  were  divided  for  the  reason  that  the  mail  had 
just  arrived  that  morning  —  the  first  mail  from  home  in 
six  weeks.  Letters  from  loved  ones  took  the  thoughts 
away  from  Rio  for  an  hour  or  two,  and  then  came  the 
parting  with  the  memory  of  those  back  in  the  States  fresh- 
ened by  the  missives  that  had  come  —  well,  naval  officers 
don't  show  it  when  they  are  blue,  but  that  night  you 
couldn't  find  three  men  in  the  Louisiana's  wardroom  — 
the  same  was  probably  true  of  the  other  ships  —  and  if 
you  made  a  trip  around  the  ship,  far  out  in  some  sheltered 
place  where  the  rain  gusts  did  not  fall  and  the  wind  did 
not  blow,  you  would  find  some  fellow  sitting  looking 
blankly  out  in  the  darkness.  When  you  gave  him  a  greet- 
ing you  got  a  low  growl  for  an  answer  and  you  passed 
on. 

The  ordinary  civilian  can  scarcely  appreciate  what  it 
means  to  a  warship  to  get  mail.  Officers  and  men  talk 


132  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

about  it  for  days.  The  departure  of  the  fleet  from  Rio 
was  set  for  December  21,  but  it  was  seen  that  it  meant  that 
the  mail  from  New  York  would  probably  be  missed  by  one 
day.  The  fleet  was  all  agog  as  to  whether  Admiral  Evans 
would  remain  over  one  day  or  would  leave  a  collier  to  bring 
the  mail  on.  When  it  was  learned  that  the  official  recep- 
tions and  good-bys  would  require  another  day  in  port  there 
was  rejoicing. 

"  We'll  get  the  mail ! "  was  on  every  one's  lips. 

Soon  word  was  passed  that  the  steamship  Byron,  bring- 
ing it,  had  reached  Bahia.  Then  came  the  announcement 
that  she  would  reach  Rio  between  4  and  6  P.  M.  on  Jan- 
uary 21.  The  time  came  and  no  mail  ship.  Then  came 
8,  9  and  10  o'clock,  and  no  steamship  had  been  reported 
passing  in.  Long  faces  were  everywhere.  Just  before  6 
o'clock  the  next  morning  the  lookout  reported  the  Byron 
passing  in.  Word  was  passed  around  and  many  an  officer 
tumbled  out  of  his  bunk  to  catch  a  sight  of  the  vessel  that 
had  letters  from  home  on  her.  The  bluejackets  were  al- 
ready at  work,  but  they  stopped  long  enough  with  the  oth- 
ers to  give  greeting  to  the  ship. 

"  The  mail  has  come !  The  mail  has  come !  The  mail 
has  come ! " 

You  heard  it  everywhere.  Even  the  bugles  seemed  to 
sound  it  out.  Good  cheer  was  on  all  sides.  Soon  it  was 
learned  that  the  ship  had  been  passed  by  the  quarantine 
officer.  Then  came  a  race  for  her  with  launches.  More 
than  twenty  of  these  boats,  counting  those  from  auxiliaries 
as  well  as  battleships,  began  a  race  to  reach  her.  The  en- 
gineers hit  'er  up  and  the  coxswains  steered  as  straight  as 
they  could.  Over  the  rollicking  waves  the  little  craft 


NATIONAL  SALUTES  AT  SEA  133 

plunged  and  rolled  and  every  snort  they  gave  seemed  to 
say: 

"  The  mail  has  come.  We're  after  it.  We'll  soon  be 
back.  The  mail  has  come !  " 

The  launches  clustered  about  the  ship  like  an  eager 
crowd  of  boys  scrambling  for  pennies.  They  had  to  be 
straightened  out.  The  bags  had  been  arranged  on  deck 
and  then  there  came  a  stream  of  men  passing  them  down. 
There  was  an  average  of  twenty  bags  to  each  ship.  As 
fast  as  each  launch  got  its  load  it  dashed  back  at  full  speed 
to  its  ship.  The  bags  were  hurried  up  the  sides  and  fairly 
ripped  open.  Half  a  dozen  men  were  set  at  sorting  out 
the  letters  and  papers.  In  less  than  two  hours  after  the 
Byron  had  anchored  hundreds  of  men  were  going  about 
with  a  contented  but  far  away  look  upon  their  faces. 

"  Oh,  yes,  thank  you,"  was  a  general  remark.  "  They're 
all  well  and  they  had  a  pleasant  Christmas.  Your  people 
all  right,  too?  That's  good.  'Twas  nice  to  hear  from 
home,  wasn't  it?  Wonder  when  we'll  get  the  next  one?  " 

There  are  many  stock  questions  asked  on  board  of  a 
man-o'-war.  In  time  of  conflict  the  chief  one  is : 

"  Wonder  where  we'll  catch  the  enemy  ?  " 

In  time  of  peace  the  chief  one  seems  to  be : 

"  Wonder  where  we'll  get  the  mail?  " 

To  a  passenger  on  one  of  these  ships  that  seems  to  be  the 
most  important  question  to  be  asked  and  answered.  Spec- 
ulation as  to  the  time  of  reaching  port,  of  remaining  in 
port,  of  departing,  of  the  length  of  the  cruise,  as  to  the 
routine  or  even  unusual  work  to  be  accomplished  —  all 
these  seem  to  be  of  minor  importance  to  the  question  as  to 
when  the  mail  will  come.  The  American  man-o'-warsman 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

surely  does  love  his  home  and  people.  "  God's  country 
and  God's  people ! "  is  the  way  he  puts  it.  Apparently 
what  he  cares  for  most  in  all  the  world  is  mail  from  God's 
country  and  God's  people. 

But  there  will  be  no  mail  for  the  ships  here  at  Punta. 
There  used  to  be  a  hidden  post  office  in  the  straits  for  sailor- 
men.  It  was  where  the  Indians  could  not  find  it.  Let- 
ters and  papers  were  left  there  to  be  mailed  and  reading 
matter  was  dropped  behind  for  another  vessel  to  pick  up. 
It  is  said  that  never  was  that  strange  mail  box  trifled  with 
and  never  robbed.  But  all  that  was  years  ago. 

Now  there  is  a  modern  city  of  something  like  12,000 
people  here,  with  a  Chilean  post  office  to  see  that  things  are 
managed  properly;  but  the  mails  are  irregular,  for  they 
still  depend  for  their  despatch  more  or  less  on  the  irregular 
calls  of  steamers.  Of  course  there  are  certain  vessels  which 
make  regular  trips,  but  these  are  few  and  far  between,  and 
you  never  know  when  you  mail  a  letter  here  how  long  it  will 
be  before  it  reaches  its  destination. 

If  you  don't  find  the  old  sea  post  office  here  there  is  one 
thing  you  do  find,  and  it  exists  nowhere  else  in  the  world. 

Did  you  ever  hear  about  the  willy waws?  No?  Well, 
you  see  'em  here  when  the  season's  right. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  hobgoblin?  No?  Well,  a  willy waw 
isn't  a  hobgoblin.  Neither  is  it  anything  like  a  willy- 
boy.  Any  one  who  knows  what  willy  waws  are  knows  they 
are  a  thousand  times  worse. 

Well,  what  is  a  willy  waw?  We'll  save  that  for  another 
article.  You  see  there  might  not  be  much  else  to  write 
about. 


CHAPTER  VII 

:PING-OFF  PLACE 

Pleasant  and  Busy  Life  in  City  of  Perpetual  Winter  —  Wealthy  and 
Well  Ruled  — Millions  Made  in  Wool,  Mutton  and  Furs  — One 
Splendid  Mansion  Amid  Many  Corrugated  Iron  Buildings  —  Famine 
in  Postal  Cards  —  Jack  on  Horseback  —  Officers  Found  More  Fun 
in  Social  Gatherings  Than  Out  in  the  Wilds  —  Surreptitious  Traf- 
fic of  a  Free  Port. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

PUNTA  ARENAS,  Feb.  7. 

PUNTA  ARENAS  is  known  commonly  as  the  jump- 
ing-off  place  of  the  earth.     The  generally  accepted 
meaning  of  that  characterization  is  that  it  is  not 
only  the  southernmost  settlement  of  any  size  of  civilized 
people  in  the  world,  but  that  it  is  the  most  forlorn,  dreary, 
desolate  place  that  any  one  could  find  in  which  to  live. 

Indeed,  before  this  fleet  arrived  here  it  is  probable  that 
not  one  person  in  a  hundred  in  the  United  States  knew 
where  Punta  Arenas  was,  and  those  who  had  some  vague 
idea  about  it  had  an  impression  that  it  is  one  of  those  re- 
formed penal  colonies  where  the  driftwood  of  humanity 
huddle  together,  tolerate  one  another  because  they  are 
birds  of  a  feather  and  eke  out  a  miserable  existence  in  traf- 
ficking with  Indians,  herding  sheep,  looting  wrecks  and 
spending  their  spare  time  in  low  ceilinged  saloons  gulping 
down  liquor  that  would  put  knockout  drops  to  shame. 

135 


1136  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Well,  it  simply  isn't  true !  Punta  Arenas  is  a  lively  city 
of  12,000  residents,  one  of  the  best  governed  in  the  world, 
with  all  modern  improvements  except  trolley  cars,  half  a 
dozen  millionaires  and  scores  of  men  worth  $500,000  or 
more,  with  one  residence  at  least  that  would  hold  its  own 
more  than  favorably  with  the  residences  on  Madison  Ave- 
nue in  the  Murray  Hill  part  of  New  York,  with  excellent 
schools,  with  a  "  society  "  that  knows  as  well  as  any  on 
earth  how  to  wear  Paris  gowns  and  to  give  entertainments 
as  finished  in  all  the  delicate  niceties  as  could  be  found  in 
any  capital. 

Punta  Arenas  isn't  pretty  in  any  sense  and  even  the  well- 
to-do  are  content  to  live  in  one-story  houses  with  cor- 
rugated iron  roofs,  but  it  is  a  hustling,  busy  place  where 
every  comfort  and  luxury  can  be  secured,  and  it  has  a 
pronounced  twentieth  century  air  about  it.  It  resembles 
strongly  a  western  Kansas  or  Nebraska  town.  Its  climate 
is  always  cool  but  never  seriously  cold.  The  lowest  re- 
corded temperature  in  this  place,  which  corresponds  in  lat- 
itude to  Labrador  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  is  20  de- 
grees Fahrenheit  above  zero.  The  highest  is  77.  Why, 
there  are  two  four-in-hands  and  one  French  automobile, 
this  in  a  town,  mind  you,  where  there  are  no  roads  out  in 
the  country  and  no  place  except  the  town  streets  in  which 
to  drive  I  Any  one  who  has  seen  these  smart  turnouts  is 
justified  in  dropping  into  slang  far  enough  to  say  that 
is  going  some! 

There  was  good  reason  for  a  preconceived  unfavorable 
opinion  of  Punta  Arenas.  Recently  there  have  been  sev- 
eral flattering  accounts  published  of  the  town  and  its  life, 
but  they  have  not  received  a  wide  circulation.  Such  ac- 


PUNTA  ARENAS  137 

counts  as  were  In  the  books  of  travel,  with  probably  one 
exception,  were  repellant.  Here  is  what  William  E.  Curtis 
said  in  1888,  in  his  book  entitled  "  The  Capitals  of  South 
America,"  and  dedicated  to  Chester  Alan  Arthur: 

"  It  [Punta  Arenas]  belongs  to  Chile  and  was  formerly 
a  penal  colony ;  but  one  look  at  it  is  enough  to  convince 
the  most  incredulous  that  whoever  located  it  did  not  intend 
the  convict's  life  to  be  a  happy  one.  It  lies  on  a  long  spit 
that  stretches  out  into  the  strait,  and  the  English  call  it 
Sandy  Point,  but  a  better  name  would  be  Cape  Desolation. 
Convicts  are  sent  there  no  longer,  but  some  of  those  who 
were  sent  thither  when  Chile  kept  the  seeds  and  harvests  of 
her  revolutions,  still  remain  there.  There  used  to  be  a  mil- 
itary guard  there  but  that  was  withdrawn  during  the  war 
with  Peru  and  all  the  prisoners  who  would  consent  to  enter 
the  army  got  a  ticket  of  leave.  The  Governor  resides  in 
what  was  once  the  barracks  and  horses  are  kept  in  a  stock- 
ade. Hunger,  decay  and  dreariness  are  inscribed  upon 
everything  —  on  the  faces  of  the  men  as  well  as  on  the 
houses  they  live  in  —  and  the  people  look  as  discouraging 
as  the  mud. 

"  They  say  it  rains  in  Punta  Arenas  every  day.  That  is 
a  mistake  —  sometimes  it  snows.  Another  misrepresenta- 
tion is  the  published  announcement  that  ships  passing  the 
strait  always  touch  there.  Doubtless  they  desire  to,  and 
it  is  one  of  the  delusions  of  the  owners  that  they  do ;  but 
as  the  wind  never  ceases  except  for  a  few  hours  at  a  time, 
and  the  bay  on  which  the  place  is  located  is  shallow,  it  is 
only  about  once  a  week  or  so  that  a  boat  can  land,  because 
of  the  violent  surf. 

"  The  town  is  interesting  because  it  is  the  only  settle- 


138  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

ment  in  Patagonia  and  of  course  the  only  one  in  the  strait. 
It  is  about  4,000  miles  from  the  southernmost  town  on  the 
west  coast  of  South  America  to  the  first  port  on  the  eastern 
coast  —  a  voyage  which  ordinarily  requires  fifteen  days; 
and  as  Punta  Arenas  is  about  the  middle  of  the  way  it 
possesses  some  attractions.  Spread  out  in  the  mud  are  250 
houses,  more  or  less,  which  shelter  from  the  ceaseless  storms 
a  community  of  800  or  1,000  people,  representing  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men  from  the  primeval  type  to  the  pure 
Caucasian  —  convicts,  traders,  fugitives,  wrecked  seamen, 
deserters  from  all  the  navies  in  the  world,  Chinamen,  ne- 
groes, Poles,  Italians,  Sandwich  Islanders,  wandering  Jews 
and  human  driftwood  of  every  tongue  and  clime  cast  up 
by  the  sea  and  absorbed  in  a  community  scarcely  one  of 
which  would  be  willing  to  tell  why  he  came  there  or  would 
stay  if  he  could  get  away.  It  is  said  that  in  Punta  Arenas 
an  interpreter  for  every  language  known  to  the  modern 
world  can  be  found,  but  although  the  place  belongs  to 
Chile,  English  is  most  generally  spoken." 

All  that  may  have  been  true  in  those  days,  except  about 
the  rain,  the  wind,  the  shallow  harbor  and  the  impossibility 
of  landing  in  a  boat  more  than  once  a  week  and  several 
other  items. 

Here  is  what  Frank  G.  Carpenter  said  in  1900  in  his 
book  on  South  America,  and  it  is  the  most  favorable  of  any 
of  the  books  dealing  with  Punta  Arenas : 

"  The  city  has  been  cut  out  of  the  woods,  and  as  we 
enter  it  we  are  reminded  of  the  frontier  settlements  of  our 
wooded  Northwest.  Its  houses  are  scattered  along  wide 
streets  with  many  recurring  gaps  and  here  and  there  a 
stray  stump.  The  streets  are  a  mass  of  black  mud  through 


PUNTA  ARENAS  139 

which  huge  oxen  drag  heavy  carts  by  yokes  fastened  to 
their  horns.  At  one  place  the  sidewalk  is  of  concrete,  at 
another  it  is  of  wood,  and  a  little  further  on  it  is  of  mud. 
Many  of  the  houses  are  built  of  sheets  of  corrugated  iron, 
their  walls  wrinkled  up  like  a  washboard,  and  all  have 
roofs  of  this  material.  A  few  are  painted,  but  nearly  all 
are  of  the  galvanized,  slaty  color  of  the  metal  as  it  comes 
from  the  factory. 

"  There  is  plenty  of  building  space,  but  when  you  ask 
the  price  of  vacant  lots  you  find  that  property  is  high. 
What  in  the  United  States  would  be  a  $50  shanty  is  here 
worth  $500,  and  a  good  business  corner  will  sell  for  sev- 
eral thousands  of  dollars. 

"  Punta  Arenas  has  one  residence  which  would  be  con- 
sidered a  mansion  in  Washington  city.  This  house,  how- 
ever, is  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  Punta  Arenas.  Most 
of  the  dwellings  are  one-story  structures  which  in  the 
United  States  could  be  built  for  from  $500  to  $2,000. 
Many  of  the  poorer  houses  are  occupied  by  rich  men ;  in- 
deed, Punta  Arenas  has  as  many  rich  men  as  any  frontier 
town  of  its  size.  It  has  thirty-three  men  each  of  whom 
owns  or  controls  from  25,000  to  2,500,000  acres  of  land. 
Each  has  tens  of  thousands  of  sheep,  and  the  wool  clip  of 
some  of  these  sheep  farmers  is  worth  more  than  the  annual 
salary  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  The  citizens  of  Punta  Arenas  come  from  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Some  of  the  richest  people  are  Russians ;  oth- 
ers are  Scotchmen  who  have  come  from  the  Falkland  Is- 
lands to  engage  in  sheep  farming;  among  them  also  are 
treacherous  Spaniards,  smooth-tongued  Argentines  and 
hard-looking  brigands  from  Chile.  The  lower  classes  are 


140  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

chiefly  shepherds  and  seamen,  and  among  them  are  as  many 
rough  characters  as  are  to  be  found  in  our  mining  camps 
of  the  West." 

That  extract  caused  you  to  be  more  interested  in  the 
place,  but  still  the  reference  to  rough  characters  made  you 
feel  that  if  you  were  going  ashore  it  would  be  better  to 
leave  your  money  on  the  ship  and  not  go  alone.  When 
the  fleet  came  in  sight  of  the  town  all  the  glasses  in  each 
ship  that  could  be  spared  were  in  constant  use.  You  saw 
a  gathering  of  dwellings,  almost  entirely  one-story  struc- 
tures and  all  of  a  slate  color.  There  was  one  tower  in  the 
centre  of  the  place.  The  town  stretched  for  nearly  a  mile 
and  a  half  along  a  sloping  hill,  nearly  flat  in  the  fore- 
ground, and  it  extended  back  in  a  straggling  way  for 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile.  Back  of  the  town  on  ris- 
ing ground  was  a  belt  of  burned  timber,  bleak  and  forbid- 
ding, and  then  came  the  sharp  rise  of  the  ground  into  a  low 
range  of  mountains,  eight  or  ten  miles  away  and  about 
1,500  or  1,800  feet  high,  with  patches  of  snow  here  and 
there  in  sheltered  nooks. 

"  Quite  a  town,  that ! "  was  the  general  comment.  The 
harbor  contained  a  dozen  or  fifteen  steamships,  coasters 
and  tugs  and  was  alive  with  Chilean  flags.  Fully  one- 
half  of  the  buildings,  many  of  them  mere  shacks,  had  the 
Chilean  flag  above  them.  The  red,  white  and  blue  color 
gave  bright  relief  to  the  sombre  appearance  of  the  town. 
That  display  of  bunting  warmed  up  the  Americans  some. 
Anchor  was  cast  soon  after  noon  and  by  3  o'clock  the  first 
men  were  ashore.  The  glad  hand  was  stretched  out  to 
them. 

The  visitors  were  surprised  at  the  place.     They  found 


PUNTA  ARENAS  141 

shops  where  everything  that  one  could  wish  was  to  be  pur- 
chased. If  you  wanted  your  fountain  pen  fixed  all  the 
parts  necessary  were  to  be  obtained.  If  you  wanted  kodak 
supplies  there  they  were.  If  you  desired  paint,  brass 
tubes,  fine  olives,  dog  biscuit,  rare  wines,  high  grade 
cigars,  a  theatrical  performance,  a  suit  of  clothes  made  to 
order,  fresh  meat  or  fish,  fresh  milk,  diamonds,  hunting 
supplies,  books,  hardware  —  well,  everything  that  a  reason- 
able person  could  wish  was  to  be  had  at  moderate  prices, 
except  furs.  The  furs  were  there  by  the  bale,  and  they 
too  were  cheap  when  you  considered  the  prices  you  would 
have  to  pay  for  the  same  product  in  the  United  States,  but 
they  were  not  cheap  for  Punta  Arenas.  Prices  were  ad- 
vanced 50  per  cent,  on  furs  as  soon  as  the  first  man  from 
the  fleet  got  ashore. 

The  first  thing  that  struck  the  eye  as  the  launches 
swung  into  the  long  landing  pier  was  an  enormous  sign 
painted  on  the  sea-wall  saying : 


SPECIAL  PRICES  FOR  THE 
AMERICAN  FLEET! 


It  was  the  strict  truth,  especially  as  to  furs.  Fox  skin 
rugs  that  had  been  selling  for  $25  went  to  $40.  Guanaco 
skins  that  had  been  $10  went  up  to  $15.  Seal  skins  that 
were  $50  went  to  $75.  The  only  way  to  get  the  lower 
prices  was  to  get  some  resident  of  the  town  to  purchase 
for  you  on  the  pretext  that  he  wanted  to  make  a  gift  of 
the  furs.  Then  you  paid  him  and  you  got  furs  nearer  their 
real  Punta  Arenas  value. 

The  visitors  found  the  city  laid  out  in  squares  with  the 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

wide  streets  in  the  central  part  of  the  town  paved  with  rub- 
ble. The  curbs  are  marked  with  heavy  wooden  timbers  and 
most  of  the  walks  are  narrow  and  covered  with  gravel. 
Probably  one-third  of  the  buildings  in  the  central  part  of 
town  have  concrete  sidewalks  in  front  of  them.  The  visitors 
also  found  the  place  well  policed  with  men  in  long  cloaks 
and  swords,  bad  looking  men  to  go  up  against,  but  men  who 
soon  had  orders,  apparently,  to  go  into  the  back  streets 
and  disappear.  At  any  rate  they  were  seldom  seen  in  the 
heart  of  the  city  after  Jack  got  ashore,  and  it  was  whis- 
pered openly  that  the  authorities  had  told  them  to  "  go 
into  the  bosky  "  and  let  the  Americans  do  their  own  polic- 
ing. This  was  done  and  the  best  of  order  prevailed  during 
the  fleet's  stay. 

The  visitors  also  found  a  fine  water  supply  brought 
from  far  back  in  the  mountains,  an  excellent  fire  depart- 
ment and  the  streets  sewered  and  clean.  Electric  lighting 
was  the  common  mode  of  illumination  in  the  shops  and 
scores  of  dwellings.  Most  surprising  among  the  little 
things  to  be  observed  was  that  practically  every  dwelling 
had  an  electric  bell  at  the  front  door.  Galvanized  iron 
was  the  predominant  material  for  dwellings  and  some  stores. 
The  reason  was  soon  apparent.  The  fire  regulations  do 
not  permit  the  erection  of  wooden  buildings  in  the  city  — 
up  to  date,  you  see  —  and  stone  and  good  bricks  have  to 
be  brought  in.  Rough  bricks  are  made  here,  but  those  of 
a  better  quality  have  to  be  imported.  They  will  be  made 
here  in  time  doubtless,  but  the  town  has  been  too  busy  mak- 
ing money  in  wool,  exporting  mutton  and  selling  furs  to 
start  up  manufactories  for  building  material  for  home  con- 
sumption strictly.  Corrugated  iron  is  the  easiest  and 


PUNTA  ARENAS  143 

cheapest  to  get  and  the  fashion  of  having  a  residence  of 
that  material  has  been  so  well  established  that  even  a  rich 
man  takes  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  he  must  live  in  one. 

As  one  wandered  further  into  the  town  he  found  a  cen- 
tral plaza  with  a  band  stand  in  it,  the  western  frontage 
occupied  with  the  Governor's  residence  and  the  Catholic 
church ;  the  northern  side  the  site  of  a  residence  that  made 
the  visitor  gape  with  astonishment  to  find  so  really  hand- 
some a  building  in  such  a  place,  the  office  and  general  whole- 
sale store  of  Moritz  Braun,  the  American  Consular  Agent 
here,  and  the  shop  of  Jose  Menendez  of  Buenos  Ayres  and 
Punta  Arenas,  the  richest  man  in  all  this  region.  On  the 
eastern  side  of  the  plaza  were  two  banks,  shops,  clubs  and 
a  dwelling  or  two.  The  southern  side  bordered  on  a  vacant 
square  sold  recently  for  $150,000. 

The  plaza  was  quite  impressive  in  its  pretensions.  As 
one  wandered  further  he  observed  that  the  city  was  tree- 
less, that  there  was  a  little  railroad  on  one  of  the  wide 
streets  to  the  north  which  leads  to  the  coal  mine  in  the  hills 
about  seven  miles  from  town,  that  there  were  few  gardens 
and  flowers.  Occasionally  one  could  see  a  patch  of  radishes 
or  potatoes  or  lettuce  growing  in  a  yard,  but  most  of  the 
yards  were  bare,  with  a  wood  pile  —  wood  is  cheap  here  — 
as  its  chief  ornament.  A  small  white  pink  was  about  the 
only  flower  that  was  grown  freely  out  of  doors.  In  hun- 
dreds of  windows,  however,  there  were  house  plants,  largely 
geraniums,  in  bloom. 

Street  scenes  occupied  one's  attention  immediately.  The 
most  common  would  be  drays  pulled  by  fine  oxen  with  the 
yokes  about  their  horns.  Better  looking  animals  are  not 
to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  All  the  dray 


144  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

work  is  done  by  these  carts.  There  are  hundreds  of  them 
in  town.  The  next  thing  to  catch  the  eye  was  the  fine 
horses.  A  gaucho  clad  in  gay  colors  would  ride  through 
the  streets  occasionally  with  the  easy  swing  of  one  of  our 
cowboys  and  he  had  a  picturesque  getup  that  would  fit  a 
circus  parade  at  home.  You  noted  that  when  they  tied 
horses  they  simply  hobbled  their  forefeet. 

Few  women  were  to  be  observed  on  the  streets.  Many 
of  them  wore  black  mantillas  for  headdress.  Now  and 
then  a  smart  carriage  with  a  coachman  in  livery  would  go 
dashing  by.  Again  one  would  see  a  pony  cart  with  chil- 
dren under  a  nurse's  care  in  it.  Then  one's  eyes  would 
open  as  he  saw  a  fine  coach  drawn  by  four  horses  swing 
along.  It  made  the  visitor  smile  a  little  to  see  a  big  bag 
of  potatoes  tied  up  behind  the  coach,  like  a  trunk  in  the 
racks  of  stages  in  some  of  our  Western  towns,  but  you 
must  expect  crudities  of  some  kind  in  the  jumping-off 
place.  Then  would  come  the  Governor's  carriage,  correct 
as  to  livery  and  all  the  other  appointments  befitting  his 
station. 

The  signs  were  all  in  Spanish,  of  course.  Saloons  were 
found  all  over.  The  entire  aspect  of  things,  however,  was 
one  of  our  Far  Western  towns  that  had  struck  it  rich  and 
was  in  that  stage  where  the  wealthy  men  are  still  residents 
of  the  place,  actually  proud  to  acknowledge  that  they  have 
come  up  from  humble  beginnings,  content  to  live  where 
they  have  made  their  money  and  in  humble  dwellings,  and 
are  not  yet  ready  to  advance  upon  New  York  and  build 
palaces  that  blare  out  to  the  world  that  they  are  among 
the  newly  rich  and  want  all  mankind  to  know  it. 

After  you  had  wandered  about  a  bit  you  came  back  into 


PUNTA  ARENAS  145 

the  plaza  for  a  look  at  the  one  fine  residence  of  the  city. 
It  belongs  to  Mrs.  Sara  Braun  Valenzuela,  wife  of  Vice- 
Admiral  de  Valenzuela  of  the  Chilean  navy.  She  is  one 
of  several  children  of  the  Braun  family  of  which  Moritz 
Braun  is  now  the  head.  The  family's  life  has  been  spent 
here,  for  their  parents  came  here  as  immigrants  from  Rus- 
sia more  than  thirty-five  years  ago.  The  daughter  Sara 
married  a  man  named  Nogueira,  who,  with  the  rest  of  the 
Braun  family,  prospered  and  grew  rich  in  herding  sheep 
and  keeping  store.  As  they  prospered  they  improved 
themselves  mentally  and  acquired  finish  in  social  matters. 
To  the  credit  of  the  family  it  must  be  said  that  each  of  its 
members  speaks  freely  of  his  or  her  rise  in  the  world,  and 
you  must  smile  a  little  at  the  twinkle  in  their  eyes  as  these 
accomplished  linguists,  well-equipped  business  people,  fa- 
miliar with  finance,  stock  speculation,  trading,  correct 
sacial  usages,  say: 

"  You  know  our  people  came  here  as  immigrants,  very 
poor,  and  had  to  make  their  way  in  the  world,  just  as  many 
of  the  ancestors  of  the  rich  in  your  own  country  did.  By 
the  way,  I  believe  that  the  founder  of  the  Astor  family 
started  out  in  life  peddling  furs  and  then  selling  them  in 
a  store.  Of  course,  one  has  to  start  in  life  as  best  he  can. 
We  sold  furs,  of  course,  but  the  sheep  and  wool  industry 
gave  us  our  opportunity.  However,  one  should  be  modest 
about  his  belongings.  This  is  our  home  and  here  we  shall 
probably  stay.  We  are  of  the  town  and  have  no  aspira- 
tions except  to  do  our  share  in  advancing  the  place  and  to 
be  good  citizens." 

Several  years  ago  Senor  Nogueira  died,  leaving  his  wife 
a  millionaire.  She  decided  to  have  more  of  the  physical 


146  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

comforts  and  she  built  the  fine  house  in  which  she  dwells. 
Building  materials  and  workmen  were  brought  from 
Buenos  Ayres,  and  the  result  was  a  house  that  would  do 
credit  to  any  city  in  the  world.  Its  glass  covered  porch 
and  its  conservatory  give  it  the  appearance  of  the  home  of 
one  who  not  only  appreciates  luxury  but  has  a  love  of 
flowers  and  good  taste  in  furnishings.  Four  years  ago 
Mrs.  Nogueira,  still  a  young  woman  comparatively,  mar- 
ried Admiral  de  Valenzuela.  The  Admiral's  duties  keep 
him  away  for  the  most  part,  but  his  wife  remains,  content 
to  dwell  where  the  rest  of  her  family  reside  and  where  she 
can  look  after  her  immense  business  interests.  She  owns 
a  good  part  of  the  town  and  has  an  enormous  income  for 
a  woman  in  South  America.  Her  house  cost  about  $150,- 
000  to  build.  The  furnishings  cost  well  into  the  tens  of 
thousands  and  the  combined  result  is  to  make  it  one  of  the 
most  comfortable,  luxurious  and  complete  dwelling  places 
to  be  found  anywhere.  One  sight  of  it  was  sufficient  to 
make  the  observer  stop  short  and  admire.  It  was  so  un- 
expected, you  see,  after  you  had  been  wandering  about  in 
a  city  of  corrugated  iron  dwellings. 

There  are  half  a  dozen  other  rather  pretentious  places  in 
the  town.  Mr.  Braun's  house  and  lot  cost  him  about  $150,- 
000,  and  there  are  two  or  three  places  that  would  be  worth 
probably  from  $10,000  to  $20,000  in  the  States.  Other- 
wise the  rich  are  content  to  dwell  as  if  they  were  in  mod- 
erate circumstances. 

You  wandered  about  the  plaza  some  more  and  soon  found 
yourself  in  the  rooms  of  the  Magellanos,  or  the  English 
club,  well  fitted  up  establishments,  with  smoking  rooms, 
reading  rooms,  reception  rooms  and  billiard  rooms.  These 


PUNTA  ARENAS  147 

clubs  are  small  compared  with  those  in  New  York,  but 
they  are  complete  as  far  as  they  go  and  are  really  pleasant 
loafing  places.  Then  perhaps  you  went  across  the  plaza 
to  look  at  the  mission  Catholic  church.  As  you  went  down 
the  side  street  you  noticed  an  entrance  to  what  seemed  to  be 
the  parish  house  and  a  school.  Some  one  told  you  that  in 
there  was  a  museum  of  natural  history  that  was  really  un- 
usual. In  you  went,  and  you  met  Father  Marabini,  ur- 
bane, gentle,  cordial  and  a  scholar,  a  lover  of  nature,  under 
whose  supervision  a  small  but  most  valuable  collection  of 
birds,  fishes,  reptiles,  animals  and  geological  specimens 
has  been  gathered  together.  When  many  of  the  animals 
found  in  Patagonia  and  Tierra  del  Fuego  have  been  de- 
stroyed and  wiped  out  under  the  pressure  of  civilization, 
like  our  buffaloes  and  the  seals,  all  this  country  and  the 
lovers  of  natural  history  everywhere,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
devotees  of  science,  will  be  grateful  to  this  humble  Do- 
minican monk  for  his  labor  and  patience  of  years. 

In  addition  to  natural  history  Father  Marabini  has  gone 
into  anthropology  to  some  extent.  His  collection  along 
that  line  has  yet  to  be  enlarged,  but  you  find  weapons, 
hunting  and  fishing  implements,  canoes,  specimens  of  cloth- 
ing of  Indians,  photographs  of  the  aborigines,  now  fast 
disappearing.  Chief  Mulato,  the  last  of  the  high  grade 
Patagonian  Indians,  died  only  recently  of  smallpox.  The 
Fuegan  Indians,  described  as  the  canoe  Indians  and  the 
lowest  form  of  humanity  on  earth,  are  also  going.  Speed 
will  have  to  be  made  to  get  a  complete  anthropological 
collection  of  these  people. 

In  the  natural  history  collection  you  see  specimens  of  the 
albatross,  the  largest  bird  that  flies;  the  condor,  all  the 


148  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

fowl  of  the  region,  the  deer,  guanacoes,  otter,  seals  and 
other  fur  bearing  animals ;  you  also  see  geological  speci- 
mens bearing  on  the  mineral  wealth  of  the  country  and 
also  specimens  devoted  to  pure  geology.  You  see  the 
pottery  and  the  metal  working  of  the  natives.  You  can 
spend  hours  there  with  Father  Marabini  and  you  leave 
him  with  regret  and  respect.  His  museum  is  one  that 
would  make  a  most  creditable  showing  in  New  York's 
Museum  of  Natural  History. 

You  wander  out  to  the  north  and  you  soon  find  a  large 
building  surrounded  by  a  high  fence.  You  learn  it  is  the 
Charity  Hospital,  with  accommodations  for  thirty-five  pa- 
tients, a  boon  to  this  far  off  land.  The  late  Dr.  Nicholas 
Senn  made  a  visit  to  this  hospital  late  last  summer  and 
commended  it  highly.  He  prided  himself  on  having  visited 
the  most  northern  hospital  in  the  world  at  Hammerfest, 
Norway,  in  1890,  and  the  most  southern  last  year.  He 
declared  this  one  to  be  "  a  credit  to  the  young  city  and  a 
refuge  for  the  homeless  sick  and  injured  in  this  hospitable 
and  remote  part  of  the  world." 

So  the  visitor  found  this  a  well  equipped,  modern  city 
with  the  residents  rosy  in  their  cheeks,  cheerful  and  con- 
tented with  their  lot  in  life.  They  said  that  sometimes 
it  grew  a  little  monotonous,  but  never  dreary.  Most  of 
the  year  they  have  theatricals,  and  just  now  they  have  a 
more  or  less  permanent  company.  A  good  many  of  those 
on  the  fleet  went  to  the  vaudeville  show  and  said  they 
found  it  very  good  indeed. 

It  was  not  until  Mr.  Braun,  our  Consular  Agent,  gave 
a  reception  to  the  fleet  that  the  full  power  of  Punta  Arenas 
to  do  the  handsome  and  correct  thing  was  revealed.  The 


PUNTA  ARENAS  149 

guests  entered  a  home  modern  in  every  respect.  They 
found  a  great  hall  whose  floor  was  covered  with  rugs,  a 
large  room  behind  that  as  big  as  a  private  saloon  in  Paris, 
a  magnificent  dining  room  with  panelled  ceiling,  a  superbly 
furnished  drawing  room  and  side  rooms  used  for  smoking 
or  retiring  rooms.  There  did  not  seem  to  be  a  door  on  all 
the  first  floor.  It  is  a  house  of  large  floor  dimensions 
rather  than  of  elevation,  and  the  first  floor  was  like  a 
palace  rather  than  a  mere  dwelling. 

The  appointments  —  table  furnishings,  beautiful  can- 
delabra, glassware,  punch  bowls  (there  were  half  a  dozen 
of  them),  dainty  little  tables  spread  with  confections  and 
the  main  dining  room  table  elaborately  set  and  decked  out 

—  were  such  as  only  great  wealth  could  provide. 

And  the  company !  Of  course  the  naval  officers  were  in 
full  dress  with  all  their  gilt  fixings  and  white  gloves,  but 
every  other  man  there,  and  there  were  dozens,  was  as  cor- 
rectly garbed  in  evening  dress  as  at  any  Fifth  avenue  re- 
ception. The  number  of  handsomely  gowned  women  was 
a  surprise.  There  were  probably  fifty  in  costumes  that 
were  distinctly  Parisian.  The  one  comment  was: 
"Where  did  they  get  these  fine  looking  women?" 
You  didn't  see  them  on  the  streets  and  you  were  aston- 
ished that  there  was  so  much  society  in  the  place.  You 
heard  all  languages  spoken  and  you  might  imagine  you 
were  in  Paris.  When  the  band  struck  up  it  was  with  a 
quadrille.  You  were  pleased  perhaps  to  see  the  old  dances 

—  quadrilles,     lanciers,    schottisches,     the     old   waltzes  — 
danced.     You    see,    the   new    kind    of    glides,    two    steps, 
walk  arounds,  fancy  steps  they  call  dancing  nowadays  — 
and  perhaps  it  is  dancing  —  hasn't  struck  Punta  Arenas 


150  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

yet.  Surely  in  that  respect  the  town  was  behind  the  times. 
It  couldn't  do  the  hippety-hoppety  steps  and  the  slides  and 
glides.  Poor  old  fashioned  Punta  Arenas! 

The  brilliant  scenes  at  Mr.  Braun's  home  were  dupli- 
cated two  nights  later  at  the  Governor's  ball.  This  re- 
ception was  a  display  in  keeping  with  the  wealth  of  the 
place.  There  was  no  vulgarity,  no  crudeness,  no  little 
amusing  sidelights  that  showed  that  the  town  had  just 
arrived  in  a  social  way.  It  was  plain  that  Punta  Arenas 
knew  how  to  entertain.  Scores  of  naval  officers  said  that 
they  never  saw  entertainments  in  Washington  in  better 
taste. 

After  all  this  you  began  to  investigate  what  it  meant. 
There  was  one  answer  to  the  question  —  wool  and  sheep. 
When  you  hunted  for  statistics  you  got  them  from  an 
official  whose  business  it  is  to  collect  them.  You  found 
that  last  November  the  population  of  the  place  was  11,800 
and  of  the  territory  17,000.  In  1889  the  population  of 
the  territory  was  2,500  and  the  town  only  1,100.  It  was 
a  pretty  raw  town  then.  You  found  that  in  1906  the 
number  of  sheep  in  the  Magellan  territory  was  1,873,700 
and  that  thirty  years  ago  it  was  less  than  2,000.  You 
learned  that  the  industry  was  started  through  the  Falkland 
Islanders,  200  miles  to  the  eastward,  where  the  Scotch  mis- 
sionaries got  rich  quick  and  were  not  averse  to  worship- 
ping mammon  to  some  extent.  You  learned  that  the  num- 
ber of  tons  of  wool  exported  last  year  was  7,174,  that  the 
number  of  refrigerated  sheep  exported  last  year  was 
104,427  and  that  this  year  it  would  probably  be  130,000. 

You  learned  that  the  imports  of  the  town  were  nearly 
$3,000,000  a  year  and  the  exports  nearly  $5,000,000. 


PUNTA  ARENAS  151 

You  found  that  there  was  a  coal  mine  in  operation  close 
by,  producing  about  12,000  tons  a  year,  chiefly  for  local 
use.  The  coal  is  of  the  lignite  variety  and  disintegrates 
rapidly.  It  is  improving  as  the  shaft  sinks  deeper,  and 
the  owners  hope  soon  to  have  coal  that  they  can  sell  to 
steamships.  That  will  help  Punta  Arenas  a  good  deal. 

You  learned  that  there  are  three  daily  newspapers  here, 
each  giving  cable  news.  Indeed,  we  heard  of  the  assassi- 
nation of  King  Carlos  here  as  quickly  as  the  rest  of  the 
civilized  world.  You  were  even  surprised  to  find  that  there 
is  one  tri-weekly  newspaper  in  English  and  you  get  a 
copy  and  read  the  list  of  guests  at  Mr.  Braun's  reception, 
quite  up  to  date  with  the  society  news.  You  learned  that 
Punta  Arenas  had  been  connected  with  the  rest  of  the 
world  since  December,  1902,  when  the  overland  telegraph 
was  put  through  to  Buenos  Ayres.  You  learned  that 
there  was  gold  in  all  the  hills  near  by;  that  four  dredges 
were  engaged  in  mining  over  in  Fireland,  as  they  call 
Tierra  del  Fuego  here,  and  one  in  a  gulch  just  back  of 
the  town.  Some  progress  has  been  made  with  this  mining 
and  there  are  Americans  and  men  from  the  Transvaal 
engaged  in  the  industry.  A  lot  of  money  has  been  put 
into  it,  but  the  expense  of  getting  the  gold  is  still  too 
high  to  make  the  proposition  attractive  to  the  general 
public  and  so  one  need  not  look  for  a  gold  rush  here  for 
some  time.  You  learned  that  there  was  copper  mining  in 
many  places,  but  that  the  difficulty  in  getting  transpor- 
tation by  water  from  the  remote  places  high  up  the  moun- 
tains where  such  mines  are  is  such  as  to  eat  up  most  of  the 
profits.  You  learned  that  about  60  per  cent,  of  the  popu- 
lation is  foreign,  ranking  as  follows  as  to  numbers:  Aus- 


152  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

trian,  German,  French,  English,  Spanish,  Scandinavian  and 
American. 

The  prosperity  of  the  town  you  then  realized  depended 
upon  sheep  and  furs,  chiefly  sheep.  You  found  four  im- 
mense ranching  companies  doing  business  here  and  you 
got  the  annual  report  of  the  largest  one,  the  Exploration 
Society  of  Tierra  del  Fuego.  It  has  1,200,000  shares, 
owned  mostly  by  Valparaiso  and  Santiago  people,  but 
Punta  Arenas  has  140,000  shares,  of  which  Mr.  Braun 
owns  62,000.  This  company  owns  1,200,000  acres  of  land 
and  its  wool  clip  is  nearly  6,000,000  pounds.  Last  year  it 
had  900,000  sheep,  14,000  cattle  and  8,000  horses  on  its 
property.  Its  capital  is  $6,000,000  and  last  year  it  paid 
nearly  15  per  cent,  in  dividends.  It  has  its  property  di- 
vided into  five  big  ranches.  Altogether  its  real  estate  hold- 
ings are  as  big  as  the  State  of  Delaware  and  nearly  one- 
half  as  large  as  the  State  of  Connecticut.  That  isn't 
very  large  compared  with  the  entire  territory  of  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  because  that  land  is  as  big  as  the  State  of  New 
York,  but  it  is  pretty  big  doings  as  sheep  ranches  go. 
Australia  and  Argentina  can  make  a  slightly  better  show- 
ing in  the  production  of  wool,  but,  as  the  Punta  Arenas 
people  say,  this  country  is  still  young  in  the  business. 

You  began  to  wonder  how  the  sheep  could  thrive  in  this 
terribly  cold  and  barren  region  and  you  were  surprised  to 
be  told  that  really  it  wasn't  very  cold  here.  You  hunted 
that  matter  up  for  yourself  and  you  found  that  Father 
Marabini  had  been  keeping  a  well  equipped  meteorological 
establishment  for  fifteen  years  and  you  got  the  printed 
records.  You  found  that  the  average  temperature  for 
February,  the  warmest  month  in  the  year,  was  52.5  Fah- 


PUNTA  ARENAS  153 

renheit,  11.6  centigrade;  that  the  highest  temperature  for 
fifteen  years  was  77  degrees  (20.59  centigrade),  and  that 
the  lowest  recorded  in  summer  in  all  that  time  was  33.8 
(1.31  centigrade).  That  made  you  shiver  some.  Then 
you  looked  for  the  lowest  winter  records.  You  found  them 
in  July.  The  lowest  recorded  temperature  for  that  month 
is  20  degrees  above  zero  ( — 6.70  centigrade),  and  the 
highest  44  degrees  (7.91  centigrade).  You  found  that 
the  average  temperature  for  the  three  summer  months  in 
fifteen  years  was  52.5  (11.396  centigrade),  and  the  aver- 
age for  the  winter  months  was  36  (2.225  centigrade). 
Few  places  in  the  temperate  zone  can  show  a  variation 
of  temperature  of  only  sixteen  degrees  between  winter  and 
summer. 

The  temperature  record  and  the  rich  grasses  on  the 
plains  told  the  story  of  sheep  farming  here.  There  isn't 
much  snow.  Now  and  then  there  is  a  fall  of  from  two  to 
three  feet,  but  for  the  most  part  the  snowfalls  are  only  a 
few  inches  in  depth.  The  greatest  climatic  drawback  is  the 
searching  winds.  These  winds  blow  hardest  in  summer  and 
give  a  decided  chill  to  the  air.  The  fleet  was  here  in  the 
best  season  of  the  year.  On  two  days  out  of  the  six  it  was 
comfortable  to  wear  light  overcoats.  The  temperature 
was  something  like  our  April  weather.  Occasionally  it 
rained  for  a  few  minutes,  but  four  of  the  days  were  abso- 
lutely clear.  We  came  in  when  there  was  a  high  wind  and 
a  drop  in  the  temperature  and  we  feared  that  the  stay 
would  be  most  uncomfortable.  It  was  anything  but  that 
from  a  climatic  standpoint. 

So  goes  the  statement  quoted  early  in  this  article,  that  it 
doesn't  rain  every  day  in  the  year  in  Punta  Arenas  be- 


154  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

cause  some  days  it  snows.  The  value  of  the  other  state- 
ment that  the  bay  is  shallow  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  if  the 
port  hadn't  been  crowded  the  fleet  would  have  anchored 
within  half  a  mile  of  the  city.  As  it  was,  it  anchored  about 
a  mile  out  and  the  water  was  so  deep  that  three  of  the 
battleships  had  to  move  in  a  quarter  of  a  mile  because 
there  is  a  limit  to  the  length  of  anchor  chains.  As  to  the 
impossibility  of  landing  more  than  once  a  week,  it  may 
be  said  that  there  never  was  an  hour  when  the  launches 
could  not  land.  Once  or  twice  the  wind  came  up  and  the 
little  craft  tossed  about  a  bit,  but  that  happens  in  any  port. 
So  goes  another  of  the  many  informing  things  that  have 
been  said  incorrectly  about  this  much  abused  and  misun- 
derstood place. 

After  learning  something  about  the  business  of  the  place 
the  inquirer  naturally  turned  to  the  form  of  government. 
He  learned  that  it  was  a  place  without  politics  because 
it  has  no  suffrage.  The  Governor  and  three  alcaldes,  with 
a  consulting  board  of  paid  city  officials,  run  things.  The 
alcaldes  are  representative  men.  One  represents  the  for- 
eign interests  especially.  They  pass  rules  and  ordinances 
which  are  approved  or  disapproved  by  what  would  be 
called  in  Santiago  the  Colonial  Office.  These  laws  are 
rarely  disapproved.  The  alcaldes  are  wise  in  their  gener- 
ation. They  do  not  adopt  unpopular  measures.  Public 
opinion  is  so  strong  that  any  alcalde  who  got  to  cutting  up 
and  attempting  boss  rule  would  find  himself  so  cut  off 
from  the  rest  of  the  people  with  whom  he  must  live  and 
do  business  that  he  would  feel  as  if  he  had  been  banished. 
There  is  a  movement  to  make  the  territory  a  province 


PUNTA  ARENAS  155 

with  political  powers  of  its  own,  but  it  is  being  fought 
vigorously. 

"  We  are  so  well  governed,"  said  a  resident  of  ten  years 
to  the  Sun  man,  "  that  we  do  not  need  a  change.  We  can 
put  the  responsibility  right  on  the  one  man  in  our  present 
situation.  Nothing  goes  wrong  and  our  taxes  amount  to 
about  $3  on  $1,000  in  a  year.  Real  estate  and  live  stock 
are  about  the  only  things  taxed." 

Well  governed  as  Punta  Arenas  is  it  is  curious  to  note 
how  certain  customs  in  municipal  government  exist  the 
world  over.  Did  you  notice  that  police  official  who  just 
went  by?  Well,  he  keeps  his  carriage  and  private  coach- 
man and  his  people  dress  well,  and  his  home  is  above  the 
average  in  its  pretensions.  His  salary?  Oh,  about  $1,500 
a  year.  You  see  they  can't  pay  high  police  salaries  in  a 
town  of-  12,000  and  only  about  fifty  policemen.  But 
there  are  certain  resorts  which  sailormen  and  others  sup- 
port in  all  remote  places  of  any  size,  and  the  authorities 
somehow  seem  not  to  observe  them  too  closely  —  well, 
there's  no  need  to  go  into  the  matter  further. 

Some  things,  however,  are  a  little  different  in  Punta 
Arenas  from  other  places,  because  it  is  one  of  the  few  large 
free  ports  in  the  world.  You  can  import  anything  duty 
free.  Chile  had  to  adopt  this  plan  to  build  the  place  up. 
Even  ocean  freight  is  high  to  this  far  off  place.  Argen- 
tina had  to  make  several  of  its  neighboring  ports  free  in 
consequence  of  the  advantages  of  Punta  Arenas,  and  so 
you  have  about  five  free  ports  down  in  this  neck  of  the 
woods. 

Some  curious  effects  have  followed,  the  most  interesting 


156  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

of  which  is  that  Punta  Arenas  is  one  of  the  greatest  centres 
of  smuggling  in  the  world.  You  will  not  get  any  of  its 
merchants  to  admit  it  openly.  For  instance,  it  is  said  that 
there  are  more  Havana  cigars  imported  into  Punta  Arenas 
than  into  all  the  rest  of  Chile  put  together.  They  are  not 
consumed  here.  They  go  somewhere.  Punta  Arenas  does 
not  begin  to  use  all  the  millions  of  goods  imported.  A 
little  figuring  would  show  that.  The  outside  population 
in  the  territory,  amounting  to  about  5,000,  could  not  take 
care  of  the  rest  after  the  wants  of  Punta  Arenas  are 
satisfied.  Why,  there  are  no  less  than  twenty-two  coast- 
ing steamers  engaged  in  trade  from  here,  to  say  nothing 
about  scores  of  sloops  and  schooners  darting  in  and  out 
among  the  islands  and  channels  that  run  far  up  the  Pacific 
coast.  One  of  the  merchants  gave  an  instance  of  the 
smuggling.  He  said: 

"  Not  long  ago  I  had  several  hundred  articles  of  limited 
sale  consigned  to  me  by  mistake.  I  couldn't  sell  them  here 
and  didn't  want  to  send  them  back.  I  sent  some  some- 
where else.  They  sold  like  hot  cakes.  You  see  the  price 
was  so  much  lower  than  you  could  buy  them  before  in  that 
same  city  where  they  were  sent.  It  is  true  that  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  quiet  wealth  here,  but  really  you  mustn't  ask 
too  many  questions." 

An  interesting  sidelight  was  thrown  on  this  subject 
when  this  same  man  was  talking  about  the  illumination  of 
the  city  by  the  American  fleet's  searchlights  on  the  night 
before  the  fleet  sailed.  Fully  seventy-five  beams  were 
thrown  from  the  ships.  They  swept  the  town  fore  and 
aft.  Some  of  the  ships  concentrated  their  lights  in  one 
spot.  Five  beams  from  our  ship  were  centered  upon  the 


PUNTA  ARENAS  157 

church  steeple  in  the  plaza.  It  made  the  place  so  light  that 
you  could  read  a  newspaper  anywhere.  The  entire  town 
was  in  a  light  almost  like  that  of  midday. 

"  I  wonder  that  it  didn't  make  some  of  our  people  run 
into  holes  to  hide,"  said  a  citizen  who  knew -things  when  he 
was  speaking  of  the  brilliant  illumination. 

As  is  well  known,  Punta  Arenas  started  out  in  life  as  a 
penal  colony.  It  will  surprise  most  of  those  who  know 
the  place  and  probably  some  of  the  residents  themselves 
that  it  is  still  a  penal  colony  legally,  because  the  penal 
laws  were  never  repealed.  Indeed,  it  is  even  now  a  place 
of  exile.  Every  few  months  some  man  arrives  from  the 
upper  part  of  Chile  who  has  been  banished  to  the  place. 
Once  here  he  is  welcome  to  stay  or  go  as  he  pleases.  These 
men  are  usually  embezzlers  or  undesirable  citizens  from 
some  other  cause  in  small  places  where  the  machinery  of 
justice  is  inadequate  to  fit  the  crime.  The  culprit  is 
ordered  to  Punta  Arenas. 

It  was  in  1843  that  Chile  took  possession  of  all  this  ter- 
ritory, wresting  it  from  Spain.  She  established  a  penal 
colony  at  once  in  Port  Famine,  a  few  miles  from  here. 
In  1849  she  removed  the  colony  to  Punta  Arenas.  Two 
years  later  there  was  mutiny  of  the  guards,  led  by  Lieut. 
Cambiaso.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  slaughtering  be- 
fore it  was  quelled.  In  1877  there  was  another  similar 
mutiny,  and  then  Chile  withdrew  the  guards  and  let  Punta 
Arenas  get  along  as  a  commercial  place. 

The  free  port  regulations  followed,  merchants  came 
dropping  in,  fur  trading  became  profitable  and  then  came 
the  sheep  industry  and  Punta  Arenas  graduated  into  the 
really  modern  city  it  is.  Where  it  is  possible  to  make 


158  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

money  there  you  will  find  people  these  days,  for  the  rovers 
of  the  earth  are  just  as  active  as  ever  and  neither  cold  nor 
heat,  sickness  nor  desolation  will  stop  the  march  of  com- 
merce. 

There  are  still  many  citizens  of  Punta  Arenas  who  came 
here  in  the  days  of  the  penal  colony.  Many  of  them  were 
political  prisoners.  Many  were  mere  youths  who  had  gone 
wrong.  Scores  of  them  have  remained  and  have  grown  up 
to  be  good  citizens  and  solid  business  men,  a  credit  to  any 
community.  Still  the  memory  of  the  past  remains  with 
some,  as  was  shown  when  the  Sun  man  was  walking 
along  the  street  with  a  merchant  and  stopped  to  look  at 
a  finely  dressed  party  of  men  and  women  going  down  to 
the  pier  to  go  off  to  the  Connecticut  on  the  day  of  the 
elaborate  reception  on  board.  The  men  were  in  frock  coats 
and  tall  hats  and  the  women  in  beautifully  fitting  after- 
noon gowns. 

"  That's  as  fine  a  looking  group  of  men  and  women  as 
you  would  see  in  any  of  our  ports,"  said  the  Sun  man. 

"  Perhaps  so,"  said  his  companion,  "  but  one  has  to 
smile  a  little  when  one  thinks  of  some  things." 

"  A  past  ?  "  inquired  the  Sun  man. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  was  the  answer,  "  but  one  shouldn't  refer  to 
that.  Only  it  does  make  me  smile." 

This  man  hadn't  received  an  invitation  to  the  reception. 
He  had  a  past  that  would  bear  the  closest  scrutiny.  His 
point  of  view  was  responsible  for  the  tone  of  his  remarks. 
Nevertheless,  how  many  of  our  own  frontier  towns  could 
stand  inspection  when  it  comes  to  investigating  the  careers 
of  some  of  their  solid  citizens  ? 

Here  is  a  town  which  has  fine  free  schools,  where  the 


PUNTA  ARENAS  159 

Methodist  mission  conducted  by  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Lewis  not 
only  has  a  congregation  of  300  but  an  English  school  of 
forty  pupils;  where  the  Episcopal  mission  has  a  congre- 
gation of  400  and  a  mixed  school  of  100  children ;  a  town 
where  there  is  very  little  crime,  and  what  there  is  is  chiefly 
disorderly  conduct ;  a  place  where  everybody  is  prosperous, 
apparently;  where  life  is  sometimes  dull,  but  always  com- 
fortable, with  good  government,  and  where  a  man  can 
stand  on  his  own  merits  as  he  is  and  not  as  he  has  been. 

The  bluejackets  enjoyed  their  stay  here  thoroughly. 
Only  the  special  first  class  men  were  allowed  on  shore;  to 
have  turned  all  the  men  of  the  fleet  loose  would  have 
swamped  the  town,  for  there  were  more  persons  in  the  fleet 
than  in  the  city.  The  men  who  did  get  shore  leave  made 
for  post  card  shops  first.  In  a  day  nearly  all  the  best 
cards  were  gone.  The  supply  lasted  throughout  the  stay, 
but  now  and  then  you  would  meet  a  party  of  bluejackets 
hunting  the  town  over  for  better  specimens.  So  serious 
was  this  drain  upon  the  town  that  the  supply  of  postage 
stamps  ran  out  on  several  days.  It  was  necessary  to  go 
to  the  treasury  vaults  here  to  replenish  the  post  office. 

The  bluejackets  then  swamped  the  fur  stores.  Many 
really  fine  specimens  of  furs  can  be  secured  here  and  at 
moderate  prices  compared  to  those  in  the  United  States. 
The  bluejackets  spent  thousands  upon  thousands  of  dol- 
lars, and  so  did  the  officers.  Fox,  guanaco,  seal,  otter, 
alpaca,  vicuna,  puma  —  any  kind  of  fur  that  seems  to  be 
in  the  market,  except  tiger's  skins,  was  to  be  found.  Then 
the  plumage  of  birds,  ostriches,  swans,  gulls  and  so  on  was 
sought  out  eagerly.  Some  of  the  skins  were  fully  dressed 
and  some  not,  but  the  commonest  sight  in  Punta  Arenas 


160  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

for  the  six  days  the  fleet  was  here  was  hundreds  of  sailors 
making  for  steam  launches  with  great  bundles  of  furs 
under  their  arms.  Many  a  woman  in  the  States  will  have 
the  opportunity  of  explaining  to  inquiring  friends  that 
Tom  or  Dick  or  Bill  got  that  fur  for  her  right  across 
from  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and  many  an  officer  will  show  a 
floor  covering  with  something  of  the  same  satisfaction. 

Having  purchased  his  furs  and  postal  cards  and  having 
taken  samples  of  the  various  brands  of  libation,  as  sailor 
men  usually  do  in  foreign  and  home  ports  —  it  must  be 
said  in  truth  there  was  almost  no  excessive  drinking  be- 
cause only  special  first  class  men  were  ashore  —  Jack 
turned  his  attention  to  other  things.  He  soon  found  that 
there  were  dozens  of  very  good  saddle  horses  in  town  and 
he  promptly  went  horseback  riding.  Scores  of  sailors 
could  be  seen  galloping  about  the  streets.  Amusing? 
Yes,  in  a  way,  but  not  because  they  could  not  ride.  Many 
of  them  rode  like  cowboys.  You  see  a  large  part  of  the 
young  blood  of  this  fleet,  indeed  most  of  it,  comes  right 
off  the  farms,  Western  farms,  too,  and  those  boys  know 
how  to  ride  and  handle  horses.  The  people  gaped  at  them 
and  then  took  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  an  American 
Jack  tar  could  do  almost  anything. 

The  officers,  too,  had  their  fun  ashore.  In  two  hours 
after  the  fleet  was  anchored  many  of  those  off  duty  were 
seen  in  riding  costume  cantering  about  the  streets  on  fine 
horses  that  the  chief  of  police  put  at  their  disposal.  An 
hour  or  two  later  the  launches  began  to  land  roughly 
dressed  men  with  rifles  and  bags.  They  were  hunting 
parties,  going  right  out  to  get  foxes  and  pumas  and  all 
sorts  of  wild  things  in  the  suburbs.  Finally  a  mysterious 


PUNTA  ARENAS  161 

group  landed  from  the  Vermont.  They  had  ponchos  and 
picks  and  shovels  and  guns. 

"  Where  you  going?  "  was  the  inquiry  on  all  sides. 

"  Ask  Connolly,"  was  the  answer. 

Now,  Connolly  is  the  famous  writer  of  sea  fiction,  par- 
ticularly Gloucester  fishing  stories,  the  warm  personal 
friend  of  the  President,  and  he  once  served  in  the  navy 
two  months  as  yeoman,  at  Mr.  Roosevelt's  suggestion,  so 
as  to  pick  up  local  color. 

"  Going  out  to  camp  on  the  hills  and  discover  gold ! " 
was  all  you  could  get  out  of  Connolly.  Late  the  next 
afternoon  the  bedraggled  party  swung  into  town  again. 
Connolly's  hand  was  tied  up.  A  more  trampy  looking 
outfit  never  struck  a  town. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?  "  asked  the  crowd  surging  about 
Connolly  on  the  pier. 

"  Oh,  nothing  at  all,"  he  said,  and  then  he  looked  faint 
and  sighed.  Then  began  a  quest  for  information  as  to 
whether  they  found  gold  or  shot  anything,  and  how  was 
Connolly  hurt.  Finally  it  was  whispered  that  a  Tierra  del 
Fuego  Indian  who  had  stealthily  crossed  to  the  mainland 
had  shot  at  the  party  and  the  Mauser  bullet,  Mauser,  mind 
you,  had  nipped  Connolly  and  had  caused  a  bad  flesh 
wound.  Then  it  was  a  puma  that  had  leaped  upon  him 
and  he  had  strangled  it  to  death.  Then  the  story  went 
that  he  had  been  shot  accidentally  by  one  of  the  party. 
Then  he  had  broken  his  fist  in  a  fierce  personal  encounter 
with  savages.  All  through  this  period  of  rumors  and 
yarns  all  Connolly  could  do  was  to  nod  and  make  a  show 
of  great  nerve  in  not  noticing  the  terrible  pain  under  which 
he  was  suffering. 


162  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Well,  there  had  to  be  an  end  of  it,  and  it  came  out  that 
Connolly  had  slipped  in  wading  a  stream  and  in  trying  to 
keep  himself  from  falling  had  put  a  finger  out  of  joint. 
He  grinned  over  the  joke  and  when  he  was  asked  for  de- 
tails of  the  shooting  he  said : 

"  Honestly,  we  did  see  some  puma  tracks  1 " 

That,  so  far  as  results  were  concerned,  was  the  experi- 
ence of  all  the  hunting  parties.  The  Yankton  took  some 
of  the  officers  across  to  Fireland,  about  twenty  miles,  one 
day.  They  got  some  fine  birds  and  a  fox  or  two  and  had 
really  good  sport.  Punta  Arenas  not  providing  any  hunt- 
ing, the  officers  took  to  receptions  for  the  rest  of  the  stay. 

One  thing  that  keeps  impressing  itself  upon  the  patri- 
otic observer  as  this  fleet  goes  from  port  to  port  should 
be  mentioned.  It  is  the  painful  lack  of  the  American 
flag  on  shipping.  The  English  and  German  flags  are 
seen  everywhere.  All  over  this  South  American  country 
you  also  hear  one  lament  from  merchants.  It  is  that  there 
is  no  American  line  of  steamships  trading  directly  all  along 
the  coast.  Everywhere  they  tell  you  of  the  great  oppor- 
tunities for  American  goods  down  here. 

"  If  you  Americans  would  only  find  out  what  we  want 
and  then  learn  how  to  pack  the  goods  and  then  would  es- 
tablish steamship  lines  there  is  immense  wealth  to  be  had  in 
our  trade.  Give  us  American  steamship  lines,"  is  the 
burden  of  general  comment. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  a  discussion  of  the  revival  of 
the  American  merchant  marine  or  the  best  methods  to  at- 
tain that  end.  The  writer  of  this  has  no  desire  to  go  be- 
yond the  province  of  his  assignment,  which  is  to  chronicle 
the  doings  of  the  fleet,  but  surely  one  may  mention  with 


PUNTA  ARENAS  163 

propriety  the  one  remark  in  every  port  that  the  presence 
of  the  fleet  has  brought  forth. 

Punta  Arenas  was  like  the  rest  in  its  craving  for  Ameri- 
can trade.  It  may  be  the  jumping  off  place  of  the  earth, 
but  if  you  did  have  to  jump  off  a  ship  and  should  land 
here  you  might  be  in  far  worse  places,  and  if  you  had  to 
jump  off  from  here  the  fact  would  still  remain  that  you 
might  jump  from  more  undesirable  places.  The  Ameri- 
can sailor  men  were  practically  unanimous  in  voting  Punta 
Arenas  all  right  and  a  tremendous  surprise. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THROUGH   MAGELLAN    STRAIT 

Fog,  Shoal,  Wind  and  Tide  — Most  Awesome  Scenery  in  the  World, 
but  Not  a  Place  to  Anchor  — Start  at  the  Witching  Hour  of  11 
p.m.  on  Friday  Brought  Only  Good  Luck  to  the  Long  Line  of 
U.  S.  Leviathans,  Flanked  by  Its  Torpedo  Flotilla  —  Vessels  Wab- 
ble Where  the  Tides  Meet,  but  Steady  Hands  Curb  Them  Back  to 
the  Course  —  The  Willywaw  —  Island  Post  Office  and  Cape  Pilar, 
Where  No  Ship-wrecked  Seaman  Ever  Escaped. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

AT  SEA,  Feb.  15. 

WHEN  word  was  cabled  from  Chile  just  before  Ad- 
miral Evans's  fleet  swept  in  and  out  of  Valpar- 
aiso harbor  on  February  14<  that  the  fleet  had 
passed  through  the  Strait  of  Magellan  safely,  there  was 
probably  a  feeling  of  relief  in  Washington.  Admiration 
for  the  successful  performance  of  a  great  feat  of  seaman- 
ship was  probably  expressed  generally  throughout  the 
world.  The  passage  accomplished,  it  was  easy  to  say 
that  all  along  every  one  who  had  any  sense  knew  that 
it  would  come  out  all  right  and  not  for  one  moment  had 
there  been  any  real  cause  for  anxiety.  Of  course,  of 
course ! 

Nevertheless  all  the  world  knows  there  was  great  anxiety 
and  even  dread  lest  something  serious  might  happen  in 
navigating  this  most  treacherous  and  dangerous  passage 

164 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  165 

in  the  world.  Even  the  foreign  press  said  that  it  would 
be  a  supreme  test  of  American  seamanship  to  take  a  fleet 
of  sixteen  battleships,  to  say  nothing  of  the  auxiliaries, 
through  those  waters. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  take  one  or  two  ships  through 
the  straits.  Two  or  three  hundred  skippers  perform  that 
task  with  success  every  year.  Time  and  again  have  our 
warships,  singly  and  in  groups  of  two  or  three,  gone 
through  with  ease.  But  here  were  sixteen  monster  ships 
that  had  to  go  through  in  single  file  and  within  about  400 
yards  of  one  another,  with  no  place  to  anchor  and  without 
the  possibility  of  stopping,  buffeted  by  swift  tides  and 
currents,  in  danger  of  running  into  the  sheer  cliffs  of 
mountains  or  of  striking  hidden  rocks  in  fog  or  possibly 
snow.  If  any  serious  mishap  had  occurred  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  go  right  on.  You  couldn't  lay  to  in 
these  waters.  If  fog  hid  the  way  you  must  keep  on  and 
trust  to  picking  up  headlands  here  and  there,  and  you 
must  maintain  your  sustained  speed  of  ten  knots,  because 
each  vessel  would  then  know  where  its  immediate  prede- 
cessor or  follower  ought  to  be. 

Certainly  it  was  a  difficult  performance,  one  fraught 
with  great  danger  and  grave  responsibility.  The  chief 
point  is,  however,  that  the  fleet  got  through  without  the 
slightest  mishap.  It  was  done  as  easily  as  entering  the 
harbor  of  New  York.  There  was  not  the  slightest  mani- 
festation of  undue  concern  by  any  of  the  officers  of  the 
fleet,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  every  one  was  keyed  up 
to  his  best  and  all  were  glad  when  the  roll  of  the  Pacific  was 
felt.  When  it  was  over  all  hands  looked  at  one  another 
and  said,  in  the  French  expression,  "  It  is  to  laugh." 


166  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

But  you  want  to  know  all  about  it?  Is  there  an  im- 
patient call  for  details  of  this  much-heralded  trip  of  dread, 
a  breathless  demand  to  know  how  many  close  calls  and 
narrow  escapes  there  were  from  hitting  sunken  rocks,  glid- 
ing against  precipices,  scraping  the  paint  from  the  ships' 
sides,  dodging  willy waws?  You  want  to  learn  how  many 
men  were  nearly  swept  from  the  decks  by  overhanging 
cliffs  and  limbs  of  trees,  how  often  icebergs  choked  the 
narrow  places,  how  many  times  the  treacherous  Fuegan 
Indians,  "  the  lowest  form  of  humanity  on  earth,"  lit  their 
fires  as  signals  that  there  would  be  fine  plunder  and  good 
eating  of  humans  when  one  or  more  of  these  ships  went 
on  the  rocks;  whether  it  was  true  that  the  officers  and 
crews  went  without  sleep  or  food  until  all  dangers  were 
passed? 

Well,  if  you  guessed  any  or  all  those  things  you  must 
guess  lagain.  None  of  'em  happened.  Of  course  the 
winds  blew  fiercely  at  times,  but  they  do  that  every  day 
in  the  year  in  the  Magellans.  Of  course  the  tide  rips 
caught  the  ships  at  certain  critical  places  and  twisted  and 
turned  them  somewhat.  Of  course  the  rain  fell  occasion- 
ally and  now  and  then  shut  out  from  view  a  most  beautiful 
glacier  or  snow  field  just  when  you  wanted  to  see  it  most. 
Of  course  the  clouds  obscured  the  mountain  tops  from  time 
to  time.  Of  course  the  currents  and  tides  swept  through 
the  various  reaches  like  mill  races.  Of  course  a  willy waw 
or  two  came  out  and  smote  us,  and  of  course  there  was 
fog. 

But  if  you  want  to  know  how  easily  the  passage  was 
made  let  it  be  said  the  last  thirty  miles  of  it  was  in  a 
mist  that  thickened  into  a  dense  fog,  obscuring  the  land 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  167 

on  both  sides  completely  for  hours  and  only  now  and  then 
lifting  for  a  moment's  revelation  of  some  rock  or  head- 
land. Yes,  the  American  fleet  not  only  went  through  the 
dangerous  passage,  but  it  actually  sailed  through  miles 
and  miles  of  fog  in  doing  so,  and  it  was  done  in  as  smart 
a  fashion  as  if  the  ships  were  on  the  high  seas  and  not 
in  the  most  fearsome  strait  in  the  world,  intervals  and 
speed  being  kept  perfectly.  After  all,  even  if  the  men 
on  the  fleet  pretended  to  make  light  of  it,  the  performance 
was  a  fine  piece  of  navigation.  Admiral  Evans  has  just 
reason  to  be  proud  of  it  and  so  have  the  American  people. 
It  couldn't  have  been  done  better. 

There  was  reason  for  dread.  Hadn't  all  the  timid  folk 
spoken  of  the  terrible  risks  to  be  run?  Hadn't  the  super- 
stitious lifted  up  their  voices  and  pointed  out  that  in  the 
fifty-two  wrecks  that  had  occurred  in  the  strait  in,  say,  the 
last  twenty  years,  exactly  twenty-six  had  been  of  vessels 
beginning  with  the  letter  C?  Didn't  we  have  the  Con- 
necticut to  lead  us?  And  worse  than  thrvt,  wasn't  it  the 
Chilean  cruiser  Chacabuco  which  had  been  sent  to  Punta 
Arenas  as  a  national  compliment  and  to  act  as  escort  about 
half  a  mile  in  front  of  the  Connecticut?  One  ship  begin- 
ning with  C  was  enough,  but  here  were  two.  That  surely 
was  wilful  defiance  of  all  the  high  signs  and  deep  por- 
tents. And,  then,  didn't  we  start  out  from  Punta  Arenas 
on  Friday  night  at  the  eleventh  hour?  Hadn't  the  moon 
just  gone  down,  and  who  knows  but  that  a  darky  had  failed 
to  catch  a  rabbit  over  in  the  graveyard  on  the  beach  yon- 
der and  so  had  missed  having  his  left  hind  leg  in  his  pocket 
(or  whatever  the  details  of  that  superstition  are)?  And 
so  there  was  no  adequate  guarantee  from  escaping  death 


168  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

and  destruction.     Certainly  it  was  ticklish  business,  a  task 
for  the  ignorant  or  the  foolhardy. 

But,  speaking  seriously,  what  the  maritime  world  thinks 
of  this  region  is  revealed  best  probably  by  the  nomen- 
clature of  the  various  headlands,  islands,  bays  and  capes. 
A  study  of  the  charts  presents  such  names  as  these:  Deso- 
lation Island,  Point  Famine,  Famine  Reach,  Point  Mercy, 
Delusion  Bay,  Dislocation  Harbor,  Useless  Bay,  Disap- 
pointment Bay,  Spider  Island,  Corkscrew  Bay  and  Cor- 
morant Island,  to  say  nothing  of  Snow  Sound  and  Snowy 
Inlet.  Why,  the  very  contemplation  of  the  chart  was 
sufficient  to  give  a  landsman  the  shiverees ! 

The  Strait  of  Magellan  is  360  miles  long  and  the  width 
varies  from  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  the  narrowest  part 
to  twenty-five  miles.  The  strait  is  in  the  form  of  a  letter 
V  with  the  right  part  curved  down  a  little  at  the  top  and 
the  left  part  extended  above  what  would  be  the  correct 
proportion  of  a  well-shaped  letter.  The  short  end  reaches 
out  into  the  Atlantic  and  the  long  end  into  the  Pacific. 
The  short  right  end  is  barren  of  fine  scenery,  the  grandeur 
of  the  hills  being  reserved  for  the  long  or  western  end. 
Down  at  the  point  of  the  latter  is  Cape  Froward.  Coming 
from  the  eastern  end  there  is  about  fifteen  miles  of  rugged 
scenery  before  you  make  the  turn  to  the  northwest.  Punta 
Arenas,  or  Sandy  Point,  as  the  English  call  this  hustling, 
modern  city,  is  about  two-thirds  down  the  eastern  side  on 
a  broad  stretch  of  water  known  as  Broad  Reach.  Opposite 
is  Useless  Bay,  probably  so  called  because  it  is  useless  to 
go  over  there  to  find  an  exit  from  the  strait. 

It  is  desirable,  almost  necessary  in  fact,  to  make  the  run 
through  the  strait  in  daylight.  To  do  this  you  enter, 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  169 

say,  from  the  east  as  early  in  the  morning  as  possible  so 
as  to  make  Punta  Arenas  by  night.  Leaving  that  port 
you  start  at  night,  about  midnight.  You  have  about 
forty-five  miles  of  broad  deep  water  with  no  difficulties  in 
navigation  to  Cape  Froward,  which  you  reach  by  day- 
break. After  that  you  can  go  through  the  western  end 
of  the  strait  by  daylight  and  reach  the  Pacific  about  night- 
fall. 

The  strait  has  half  a  dozen  lights  in  it,  but  in  time  of 
fog  or  fierce  snowsqualls  these  are  of  little  value  unless 
by  accident  you  happen  to  pick  them  up.  Again  the  tide 
races  through  the  strait  at  the  rate  of  never  less  than  three 
miles  an  hour  and  in  some  of  the  narrow  places  it  has  a 
speed  of  from  five  to  six  miles.  Where  the  tides  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  meet  there  are  cross  currents  and  dis- 
turbances that  catch  even  the  most  high-powered  ship  and 
swing  it  here  and  there,  despite  careful  work  of  the  helms- 
man. 

Still  hundreds  of  steamships  go  through  safely  every 
year  and  a  close  study  of  the  chart  revealed  only  three 
places  which  occasioned  anxiety  to  the  fleet  officers. 

One  of  these  places  is  Sarmiento  Shoal  that  juts  out 
into  the  Atlantic  for  miles  from  Cape  Virgins,  the  Argen- 
tine headland,  135  feet  high,  that  marks  the  beginning  of 
the  eastern  end.  It  really  is  no  more  dangerous  to  cross, 
for  example,  than  the  shoals  of  Nantucket.  The  fleet  came 
down  to  the  shoal  about  noon.  There  is  one  place  where 
there  are  nine  fathoms  of  water  and  it  has  a  width  of  only 
four  or  five  miles.  The  task  is  to  fix  the  place  of  crossing 
from  bearings  and  then  to  cross  it.  When  the  exact  spot 
was  reached  a  fierce  black  cloud  came  up  and  obscured 


170  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

things.  With  it  came  a  strong  southwest  wind  that  made 
things  choppy.  Over  the  narrow  part  of  the  shoal  the 
ships  headed.  Once  or  twice,  perhaps  because  the  looks  of 
the  water  or  the  lead  may  have  given  warning,  the  flagship 
made  short  turns.  But  in  half  an  hour  it  was  over  and 
the  fleet  turned  to  the  northwest,  past  Dungeness  light,  five 
miles  below  Cape  Virgins,  and  marking  the  real  entrance 
to  the  strait,  which  is  now  under  the  entire  jurisdiction  of 
Chile.  From  the  mast  of  the  Chilean  signal  station  there 
fluttered  flags  which  said,  in  the  language  of  the  interna- 
tional code: 

"  Enter  Chilean  waters ;  welcome  distinguished  American 
seamen ;  pleasant  voyage." 

The  fleet  voted  the  sentiment  all  right,  even  if  the  ver- 
biage was  somewhat  unusual.  There  was  a  quick  run  up 
into  the  broad  waters  of  Possession  Bay,  close  to  the  en- 
trance of  the  First  Narrows.  There  are  two  narrows  on 
the  run  to  Punta  Arenas  and  here  is  where  the  tide  runs 
strongest  in  the  strait.  If  the  tide  is  against  you  it  is 
better  to  anchor  and  wait  for  the  turn.  There  is  a  good 
anchorage  in  the  bay  and  about  4<  o'clock  of  the  afternoon 
of  January  31  the  mudhooks  were  dropped  in  a  boiling 
sheet  of  water  that  in  its  actions  resembled  the  lower  part 
of  Chesapeake  Bay  in  a  storm. 

At  daylight  the  next  morning  the  fleet  was  under  way 
again  with  a  favorable  tide.  The  First  Narrows  are  ten 
miles  long,  two  wide  and  have  water  forty  fathoms  deep. 
There  was  no  trouble  in  just  skimming  right  along.  Then 
the  ships  entered  another  big  bay,  Philip  Bay,  and  after 
about  twenty-five  miles  of  deep  water  came  to  the  Second 
Narrows,  twelve  miles  long.  This  passage  also  has  a  swift 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  171 

tide,  but  the  waterway  is  about  three  miles  wide  and  very 
deep,  and  no  one  had  any  concern  about  getting  through. 
It  was  as  easy  as  rolling  down  hill. 

Then  came  the  waters  of  Broad  Reach,  the  wide  sheet 
of  water  that  stretches  clear  down  to  Punta  Arenas.  At 
the  very  beginning  there  is  one  of  the  two  really  difficult 
places  in  the  strait  to  navigate.  The  reach  has  extensive 
shoals.  Santa  Magdalena  Island,  with  a  lighthouse  on  it, 
faces  an  oncoming  ship  and  there  are  two  channels,  one 
to  the  north  and  the  other  to  the  south.  Small  vessels 
usually  take  the  north  passage,  called  Queen's  Channel, 
but  larger  ones  take  the  other,  known  as  New  Channel. 
There  are  two  buoys  which  indicate  dangerous  places  from 
tide  rips  and  shoals. 

Well,  the  fleet  officers  were  a  little  nervous  as  they  saw 
those  tide  rips.  Soon  it  became  evident  that  the  current 
was  dangerous.  It  was  difficult  to  keep  exactly  on  the 
course.  Twice  the  Connecticut  made  turns  to  overcome 
the  sweeping  effect  of  the  tide  and  keep  well  clear  of  shoals. 
The  long  line  of  ships  kept  zigzagging  here  and  there, 
but  in  less  than  half  an  hour  all  the  dangers  of  the  first 
leg  of  the  strait  had  been  passed.  There  was  nothing  but 
fine  deep  water  all  the  way  to  Punta  Arenas,  where  we 
dropped  anchor  about  noon. 

All  the  experts  of  the  fleet,  the  men  who  had  been 
through  not  once  but  several  times  before  were  unanimous 
in  declaring  that  the  worst  was  over  with  the  passage  of 
New  Channel  and  it  made  every  one  feel  good.  If  that 
was  all  there  was  to  going  through  Magellan,  why  on 
earth  had  there  been  such  a  big  scare  about  it  all?  It 
didn't  compare  with  navigating  the  Chesapeake  in  a  fog 


172  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

or  a  storm  and  it  seemed  farcical  to  make  so  much  fuss 
about  it. 

The  fleet  lay  at  Punta  Arenas  for  six  days,  taking  on 
coal,  giving  liberty  and  the  officers  going  through  a  round 
of  official  receptions  and  other  courtesies  that  made  the 
stay  one  day  longer  than  was  expected  because  of  the 
unusual  courtesy  on  the  part  of  Chile  in  sending  a  cruiser 
down  to  Punta  Arenas  to  greet  the  fleet  bearing  a  Rear 
Admiral,  our  Minister  to  Chile,  Mr.  Hicks,  and  our  Consul 
at  Valparaiso. 

The  departure  of  the  fleet  at  night  was  set  for  11  o'clock. 
Before  that  time  slow-moving  lights  in  the  harbor  showed 
that  the  Chacabuco  had  changed  her  station  to  be  near  the 
head  of  the  procession  when  the  start  was  made.  Other 
lights  had  revealed  that  the  six  torpedo  boats  of  our  flotilla 
had  been  taking  up  cruising  positions  on  the  right  and 
left  flanks  of  the  line  that  was  to  be  formed.  Just  before 
11  o'clock  the  signal  had  been  made  from  the  flagship  to 
prepare  to  get  under  way.  The  ships  had  hove  short. 
At  the  stroke  of  11  the  red  and  white  lights  flashed  from 
the  flagship  and  they  were  answered  from  all  the  ships.  At 
once  anchor  engines  began  tugging  at  the  chains,  and  soon 
on  every  ship  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  f  o'c'stle  sang  out : 

"  Up  and  down,  sir !  " 

That  meant  that  the  anchor  was  directly  under  the  bow 
of  the  ship  and  was  leaving  the  mud,  the  chain  being 
straight  up  and  down.  In  a  moment  or  two  the  call  was: 

"  Anchor's  aweigh,  sir !  " 

That  meant  that  the  ship  was  now  swinging  with  the  tide 
and  bells  were  jangled  in  all  the  engine  rooms  to  go  ahead 
slowly.  It  was  all  still,  only  a  few  lights  on  each  ship  were 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  173 

showing  and  soon  the  harbor  presented  the  appearance  of 
twenty-five  or  more  craft  slowly  moving  in  one  direction  as 
if  stealing  away  down  the  broad  Famine  Reach  softly  so 
as  not  to  disturb  the  slumbers  of  the  town.  But  the  town 
wasn't  asleep.  Half  the  population  was  out  to  witness  the 
departure.  The  thousands  of  electric  lights  showed  that. 
As  you  drew  away  from  the  place  it  looked  as  if  you  were 
leaving  the  north  shore  of  Staten  Island  and  going  up  New 
York  Bay,  so  thick  were  the  lights  on  the  land. 

The  Connecticut  was  quite  close  in  shore  and  headed  to- 
ward it.  She  made  a  sharp  turn,  and  the  Kansas,  Ver- 
mont and  Louisiana  and  the  others  fell  in  quickly.  There 
were  gaps  in  the  line  for  the  ships  that  had  sought  better 
anchorages,  and  these  were  filled  in  when  the  proper  time 
came.  Gradually  the  line  became  compact  and  within  fif- 
teen minutes  one  long  column  of  American  warships  was 
gliding  southward  at  a  speed  of  ten  knots,  the  Chilean  flag- 
ship off  the  starboard  bow  of  our  flagship,  all  silently  steal- 
ing away  in  the  beautiful  starlight  night  from  hospitable 
and  attractive  Punta  Arenas.  The  start  was  made  as 
smoothly  and  easily  as  in  broad  daylight.  There  was  no 
fuss  about  it.  The  fleet  had  gone  about  its  business  in  a 
businesslike  way.  That  business  was  to  get  through  the 
rest  of  the  strait  in  the  easiest  and  safest  manner. 

You  went  to  bed  at  midnight  leaving  orders  to  be  called 
at  4  A.  M.  so  as  to  come  on  deck  and  see  the  flagship  turned 
toward  home  at  Cape  Froward,  the  lowest  continental  point 
of  land  in  the  world.  You  got  out  just  abeam  of  Cape  San 
Isidro,  with  its  flashing  white  light,  and  you  found  yourself 
in  the  midst  of  rugged  scenery.  The  sky  was  overcast  and 
a  strong  wind,  like  that  which  churned  Possession  Bay  when 


174  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  fleet  entered  the  eastern  end,  was  blowing.  Bare  moun- 
tains and  rocks  stood  out  in  the  gloom.  Soon  the  shadows 
began  to  purple  the  hillsides  and  rocks ;  there  was  visible  a 
strip  of  green  which  you  made  out  to  be  trees  reaching  half 
way  up  the  black  mountain  sides.  Then  the  clouds  light- 
ened ;  everything  stood  out  clearly  in  a  gray  light  and  you 
knew  it  was  time  for  sunrise. 

The  clouds  broke  to  the  east  and  suddenly  there  shot 
through  them  six  great  shafts  of  crimson  light  as  if  they 
were  the  rays  of  an  enormous  searchlight  in  the  east,  rays 
colored  by  passing  through  bright  red  glass.  You  stood 
on  the  bridge  fascinated  and  almost  enthralled.  Then  you 
saw  the  edge  of  the  snowfield  of  Mount  Sarmiento  far  to 
the  south.  The  clouds  hid  its  brow  but  as  they  broke  occa- 
sionally you  could  catch  a  glimpse  now  and  then  of  a 
glacier  gripping  the  mountain  sides  with  the  strength  and 
permanence  of  the  ages  and  you  knew  that  truly  you  were 
looking  at  God's  country,  not  the  country  of  home,  as  most 
folks  the  world  over  call  God's  country,  but  one  that  re- 
vealed the  majesty  of  creation. 

So  on  and  on  you  went  in  the  narrow  channels  bordered 
by  rock-faced  hills  and  mountains,  green  from  the  water 
half  way  up  their  sides.  Some  of  the  mountains  were  en- 
tirely of  stone  with  abrupt  sheers  like  the  sides  of  the  prec- 
ipices in  the  Yosemite.  Waterfalls  leaped  from  cliffs  here 
and  there  and  now  and  then  one  could  see  a  stream  rushing 
down  the  hillside,  foaming  and  roaring,  its  waters  madly 
dashing  to  complete  obliteration  in  the  swirling  sea  where 
the  immutable  laws  of  gravity  sent  them.  It  seemed  a  pity 
that  a  thing  so  white  and  pure  should  find  an  ignoble  end, 
but  the  power  of  the  sun's  rays  had  set  the  forces  of  per- 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  175 

petual  motion  in  those  leaps  and  bounds  and  the  same 
streams  will  dash  down  to  the  sea  doubtless  as  long  as  the 
sun's  power  lasts  to  heat  the  edges  of  the  glaciers  and  try 
to  rob  them  of  their  strength.  You  saw  great  peaks  and 
short  ranges.  Every  one  had  a  different  light  upon  it ; 
every  one  differed  from  another  in  formation. 

But  this  is  an  account  of  navigation  rather  than  a  de- 
scription of  scenery.  The  ships  went  along  in  the  slack 
water  easily  and  smoothly  and  again  you  wondered  at  the 
stories  of  the  difficulty  of  steaming  through  this  wide 
deep  strait.  You  passed  through  Froward  Reach  into 
English  Reach,  and  miles  away,  straight  ahead,  you  saw 
the  Thornton  Peaks,  where  Jerome  Channel  cleaves  a  wray 
into  the  large  mysterious  and  only  half  explored  Otway 
Waters,  a  body  of  water  like  one  of  the  Great  Lakes  at 
home.  You  saw  no  channel  ahead. 

As  you  approached  these  mountains  it  was  like  the  turn 
in  the  Hudson  up  in  the  Highlands,  where  you  seem  to  be 
headed  for  the  rocks  with  no  way  of  escape  except  by  turn- 
ing back.  You  knew  from  the  chart  that  you  were  then  ap- 
proaching Crooked  Reach,  that  runs  beside  the  island  called 
Carlos  III.  Soon  you  saw  a  bend  toward  the  left  and 
then  you  stiffened  yourself  a  little,  for  you  knew  that  in 
less  than  half  an  hour  you  would  be  in  the  one  dangerous 
place  of  navigation  in  the  western  half  of  the  strait.  It  is 
necessary  to  make  an  S  curve  in  Crooked  Reach,  something 
like  the  one  in  the  Subway  at  Fourteenth  street,  only  it  is 
one  six  or  eight  miles  long  and  not  of  a  few  hundred  feet. 

Just  before  you  reached  the  line  running  from  Jerome 
Point  to  the  upper  end  of  the  island  of  Carlos  III.  you  saw 
black  lines  in  the  water  running  from  shore  to  shore,  now 


176  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

only  a  little  more  than  a  mile  apart.  These  lines  were 
foam-crested  and  they  marked  the  meeting  place  of  the 
tides  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific.  The  officers  had  no 
time  now  to  look  at  scenery.  Here  was  serious  work.  The 
Connecticut  crossed  the  first  one  and  so  intent  were  you  in 
watching  preparations  to  cross  on  your  own  ship  that  you 
scarcely  noticed  her  movements.  But  what  was  the  matter 
with  the  Kansas,  directly  astern?  She  was  swaying  off  to 
starboard  violently.  Then  she  made  a  swoop  to  port. 
Queer  kind  of  steering  it  seemed !  Perhaps  it  was  the  Con- 
necticut that  had  swayed  this  way  and  that.  Wait  a  mo- 
ment. 

Soon  the  Kansas  got  fairly  straight  with  the  Connecticut 
and  then  the  Vermont  took  to  dancing  sidesteps  this  way 
and  that.  The  helm  was  being  shifted  constantly  in  the 
endeavor  to  keep  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  It  was  the 
Louisiana's  turn  next.  Standing  on  the  bridge  you 
scarcely  noticed  any  deviation,  but  when  you  looked  at  the 
line  of  ships  behind  you  knew  that  the  Louisiana  was  hav- 
ing its  troubles  keeping  straight  and  when  you  saw  the 
quartermaster  twisting  the  wheel  about,  now  this  way  and 
now  that,  you  knew  that  this  ship  had  been  doing  fancy 
stunts  far  from  home. 

Then  you  looked  at  those  behind.  On  they  came,  and 
that  straight  line,  the  pride  of  any  one  who  has  seen  it  from 
day  to  day,  went  zigzagging,  twisting  and  turning,  thrust 
here  and  there  until  it  resembled  the  twists  of  a  snake  crawl- 
ing along  the  ground  rather  than  a  fleet  of  majestic  ships 
sailing  in  a  straight  line.  Once  again  a  similar  perform- 
ance of  the  fleet  occurred  and  you  began  to  realize  what  the 
dangers  of  navigating  Magellan  meant.  You  realized  that 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  177 

with  high-powered  vessels  such  as  these  ships  it  was  easy  to 
correct  the  swaying  of  the  tides  and  currents,  but  you  un- 
derstood what  smaller  ships  had  to  contend  with. 

We  were  going  through  at  the  most  favorable  season  of 
the  year,  but  you  shuddered  to  think  what  it  must  be  to 
be  caught  here  in  the  winter,  perhaps  with  darkness  coming 
on,  no  place  to  anchor  and  a  blinding  snowstorm  or  a  fog 
hiding  the  way  and  your  steamer  having  hard  work  even  to 
hold  its  own  against  the  terrific  current  that  might  be  run- 
ning against  you.  Oh,  yes,  then  you  knew  what  a  task,  a 
dangerous  task  it  was  to  brave  the  perils  of  Crooked  Reach 
and  you  were  glad  you  were  on  a  warship  with  strength 
enough  to  scorn  nature's  effort  to  hurl  it  against  the  rocks. 

You  passed  dangerous  Anson  Rock  and  you  soon  glided 
out  into  Long  Reach,  an  arm  of  the  strait  that  runs  for 
fifty  or  sixty  miles  to  the  northwest  almost  as  straight  as  a 
taut  rope,  and  you  then  took  up  your  glasses  to  look 
around.  You  saw  the  little  island  just  off  Borja  Bay, 
where  the  famous  post  office  of  the  strait  was  situated,  a 
place  where  sailors  rowed  ashore  to  leave  their  letters  to  be 
mailed  and  their  newspapers  months  old  to  be  read  by  those 
who  followed  them.  You  could  see  the  signs  nailed  to  the 
trees  giving  the  names  of  ships  that  had  called,  the  dates 
and  the  ports  to  which  they  were  bound.  All  that  is  done 
away  with  now  that  Punta  Arenas  looks  after  the  mails  and 
gives  hospitable  welcome  to  sailormen,  but  those  signs,  some 
of  them  a  half  century  old,  told  tales  of  hardship,  of  ship- 
wreck, of  misery  to  many  a  man  who  could  read  what  they 
really  meant. 

Then  you  began  again  to  watch  the  mountains.  Far  down 
Snowy  Inlet  you  saw  the  sloping  sides  of  Mount  Wharton 


178  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

and  a  magnificent  blue  glacier  sloping  down  its  broad 
reaches.  It  had  teeth  all  over  the  lower  part  where  it  had 
cracked  under  the  sun's  rays,  but  back  for  miles  and  miles, 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  blue  ice  extended  until  it 
hid  itself  in  the  vast  snowfields  of  the  mountain's  top.  You 
were  glad  that  the  sun's  rays  came  out  from  time  to  time 
to  show  you  a  patch  of  the  top  of  the  mountain,  for  then 
you  understood  what  Darwin  meant  when  he  compared  some 
of  the  glaciers  in  the  strait  to  "  a  hundred  frozen  Niag- 
aras." You  knew  that  you  were  looking  at  one  of  the 
greatest  accessible  ice  patches  in  the  world  outside  of  the 
ice  cap  of  Greenland. 

The  wind  began  to  strengthen  and  black  outbursts  of  it 
were  seen  coming  toward  you  from  time  to  time.  Then  at 
last  you  began  to  realize  what  a  willywaw  is.  It  is  a  fierce 
blast  that  comes  down  from  these  mountains  with  well  de- 
fined limits  like  the  ray  of  a  searchlight  in  the  night.  One 
moment  you  do  not  feel  it  and  then  you  shoot  into  it  and  it 
tosses  you  about,  churns  up  the  waters,  roars  and  barks  at 
you  and  you  feel  that  a  demon  from  the  hills  is  trying  to 
tear  you  to  pieces.  Half  a  dozen  times  one  of  these  willy- 
waws  got  started  for  the  fleet  and  then  the  sun  came  out, 
the  clouds  broke  up  and  the  blast  was  dissipated.  You 
could  see  it  all  with  your  eyes,  you  didn't  have  to  imagine 
it.  It  was  as  if  some  big  policemen  had  scattered  a  crowd 
that  had  begun  to  torment  a  procession  and  had  said 
"  G'wan ! "  It  g'wanned  all  right.  Finally  a  big  one 
gathered  force  that  laughed  at  the  policeman,  and  it  fell 
upon  us.  With  it  came  mist  and  dashes  of  rain.  It  spat 
in  our  faces.  It  wrapped  our  coats  about  our  legs  in 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  179 

knots.  It  shrieked  and  howled  at  us,  and  when  we  stag- 
gered through  it  it  laughed  at  us,  as  if  to  say : 

"  You  may  be  a  great  fleet  of  warships,  but  I'm  not 
afraid  to  tackle  you,  just  like  any  other  ship  or  set  of  ships. 
I  have  fun  with  every  ship  that  goes  through  here,  and  if 
I  don't  one  of  my  rough  brothers  does  the  business.  No 
one  who  goes  through  here  can  escape  a  willywaw.  How 
do  you  like  being  tousled  up  ?  Ha !  Ha !  " 

All  that  the  writer  of  this  cares  to  say  is  that  willywaws 
are  rude  things,  the  rudest  kind  of  things  he  has  ever  met, 
and  he's  glad  that  you  can  find  them  nowhere  else  in  the 
world  than  in  Magellan  Strait.  Like  the  man  who  made  a 
mistake  in  matrimony,  he  is  willing  to  sing  hereafter  the 
old  song: 

"  Once  was  enough  for  him !  " 

When  you  got  past  that  willywaw  you  began  perhaps  to 
speculate  on  the  height  of  the  mountains  and  you  were  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  they  are  not  high,  as  snow-capped 
mountains  go ;  that  they  varied  in  height  from  3,000  to 
4,500  feet  with  occasionally  a  monster  in  the  distance  from 
5,000  to  7,500  feet  tall.  They  looked  like  the  Alps  or  the 
Canadian  Rockies.  You  soon  realized  that  it  was  because 
they  rose  directly  from  the  water  and  there  was  no  slope  to 
them  before  they  began  to  shoot  upward,  as  is  the  case  in 
the  great  mountain  ranges  of  the  earth.  The  fact  that 
they  were  snowclad,  like  all  the  other  great  mountains,  also 
made  you  feel  as  if  they  were  as  high  as  such  elevations. 

As  hour  after  hour  passed  you  saw  why  it  was  that  one 
writer  had  said  that  if  you  had  taken  the  Himalayas,  the 
Andes,  the  Alps,  and  had  moved  them  all  here  and  had  sub- 


180  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

merged  them  up  to  their  necks  you  would  get  scenery  like 
that  which  the  strait  presents.  As  you  looked  at  the  moun- 
tains and  saw  the  bays  here  and  there  you  began  also  to 
realize  what  another  writer  meant  when  he  said  that  a  hun- 
dred Lake  Comos,  Lucernes  and  Genevas  could  not  present 
the  lordly  beauty  of  some  of  these  bays  and  inlets.  Per- 
haps you  compared  the  trip  with  that  of  the  Inland  Sea  of 
Japan.  If  you  did  you  could  only  say : 

"  This  is  grand ;  the  Inland  Sea  is  beautiful." 
And  when  we  began  to  reach  the  end  of  Long  Reach  and 
to  get  into  the  wide  open  waters  of  Sea  Reach  and  the  fog 
shut  us  in  completely  many  a  person  then  was  not  alto- 
gether sorry,  for  he  had  been  surfeited  with  it  all.  We 
went  down  to  dinner  just  as  the  ships  began  to  feel  the 
Pacific's  swells.  The  wind  from  the  northwest  began  to 
blow  violently  and  soon  after  8  o'clock  word  was  passed 
that  we  had  passed  Cape  Pilar,  where  no  shipwrecked  mari- 
ner ever  escapes,  and  that  the  fog  had  lifted  and  those  on 
the  bridge  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  it.  There  had  been 
thirty  miles  of  fog  navigation  in  the  strait  itself.  Two 
hours  later  as  the  ship  was  plunging  and  careening  in  the 
gale  —  they  always  have  a  gale  or  extremely  heavy  swells 
at  the  Pacific  entrance  to  Magellan  —  we  heard  that  the 
Evangelistas  Islands,  four  rugged  rocks  with  a  light  on 
one,  had  been  seen,  and  then  we  turned  in,  knowing  that  in 
an  hour  or  so  the  fleet  would  be  headed  due  north,  every 
turn  of  the  screws  bringing  us  nearer  home.  On  the  whole, 
every  one  was  glad  that  if  the  fog  was  to  be  it  had  shut 
off  the  view  of  the  mountains  and  glaciers  and  bays  just 
after  it  had  been  finest.  We  had  seen  the  strait  at  its  best 
and  there  was  not  a  man  who  did  not  feel  something  of  awe 


THROUGH  MAGELLAN  STRAIT  181 

over  it,  believing  as  he  did  that  he  had  been  in  sight  of  the 
grandest  handiwork  of  the  Creator  that  the  earth  presents. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of 
the  waters  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters. 

"  And  God  made  the  firmament  and  divided  the  waters 
which  were  under  the  firmament  from  the  waters  which  were 
above  the  firmament,  and  it  was  so." 

Any  one  who  has  sailed  through  the  Strait  of  Magellan 
can  easily  believe  it  was  there  that  God  began  to  divide  the 
waters  from  the  waters.  Any  one  also  who  has  sailed 
through  the  strait  into  the  heaving,  tossing  Pacific,  wrongly 
named  for  that  part  of  the  world,  could  realize  the  full  sig- 
nificance of  what  was  in  the  heart  of  a  sailor  of  the  mid- 
watch  who  sang  softly  to  himself  as  you  passed  him : 

"  Rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep  1 " 


CHAPTER  IX 

IN    AND    OUT     OF    VALPARAISO     HARBOR 

Courtesy  That  Means  Cordial  Relations  for  Many  Years  —  Eight 
Hundred  Guns  Proclaim  Peace  —  President  Montt  Reviews  Ships 
and  Congratulates  by  Wireless  —  Wonderful  Sailing  of  the  Battle- 
ships Amid  Thick  Fog  on  the  Rolling  Pacific  —  Formation  Pre- 
served in  the  Dark  —  Great  Scene  in  the  Sunlight  as  the  Armada 
Swept  In  Near  the  Shore  and  Thundered  Salutations  to  Vast 
Throng  of  Chileans  — The  Animated  "Welcome"  Sign  — Meeting 
With  the  Chicago. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

AT  SEA,  Feb.  15. 

AN   act   of  international   courtesy,   unprecedented   in 
American  naval  annals  at  least,  and  probably  un- 
precedented in  the  world's  history,  occurred  yester- 
day  in   the   harbor   of   Valparaiso,   Chile,   when   Admiral 
Evans  sailed  in  and  out  of  the  harbor,  saluting  the  port 
and  then  the  President  of  Chile  in  person.     It  was  a  demon- 
stration which  in  not  only  its  immediate  but  its  far-reaching 
effects  was  worth  probably  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury's exchange  of  diplomatic  notes  and  expressions. 

Moreover,  for  sundry  reasons  which  the  intelligent  ob- 
server of  more  or  less  recent  events  can  appreciate,  there 
was  no  better  place  on  the  South  American  continent  for 
such  a  remarkable  performance.  Especially  gratifying  to 
Admiral  Evans  were  the  cordial  messages  of  thanks  and  es- 

182 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  186 

teem  he  received  by  wireless.  The  last  time  he  sailed  away 
from  Valparaiso  kind  words  did  not  follow  him.  Thus 
does  time  and  a  marked  advance  in  naval  power  work  won- 
ders in  international  affairs. 

The  greatest  honors  that  the  fleet  of  any  nation  could 
pay  to  the  head  of  another  nation  were  paid  to  President 
Montt.  They  were  precisely  such  as  the  fleet  paid  to  Pres- 
ident Roosevelt  on  the  departure  from  Hampton  Roads. 
They  differed  only  in  their  setting.  The  flag  of  another 
republic  was  at  the  main.  Three  times  as  many  people 
witnessed  the  spectacle  in  Valparaiso  as  observed  it  in 
Hampton  Roads.  The  saluting  was  in  a  foreign  port,  girt 
about  with  lofty  hills  instead  of  the  low  lying  and  far  dis- 
tant shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  Elaborately  dressed  ship- 
ping, flying  the  flags  of  half  a  dozen  nations,  added  color 
to  the  scheme. 

A  great  city  terraced  up  the  mountain  sides  made  a  holi- 
day to  gaze,  first  in  silence  and  then  with  cheers,  at  an 
armada  which  meant  not  conquest  but  a  visible  message  of 
safety  from  conquest  by  European  Powers,  and  an  assur- 
ance that  not  only  Chile  but  every  other  Power  in  South 
or  Central  America  could  pursue  the  path  of  commercial 
and  intellectual  development  secure  from  the  envy  and  ava- 
rice of  other  parts  of  the  world.  Exhibiting  that  fleet  to 
Chile  was  like  showing  her  a  paid-up,  interminable  insur- 
ance policy  of  peace,  made  out  in  the  name  of  all  American 
peoples.  Judging  from  the  responses  it  elicited  Chile 
liked  the  way  the  policy  read. 

Few  harbors  in  the  world  are  better  adapted  for  such  a 
scene.  There  is  no  deep  bay,  no  narrow  channel  to  choke 
the  entrance.  The  harbor  is  simply  an  open  roadstead  of 


184  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  Pacific.  All  that  Admiral  Evans  had  to  do  was  to  turn 
to  one  side,  sweep  along  the  city  front  just  outside  the  line 
of  moored  shipping  and  pass  on.  He  was  on  the  broad 
swells  of  the  Pacific  again  within  an  hour  from  the  time  he 
had  turned  in  shore.  It  was  an  hour  of  education  for 
Chile,  with  a  lesson  in  it  that  otherwise  she  could  not  learn 
in  years,  and  at  its  conclusion  there  was  such  a  genuine 
note  of  appreciation  in  the  exchange  of  farewells  that  any 
student  of  the  forces  that  work  for  good  or  evil  in  inter- 
national affairs  must  have  been  glad  that  the  courtesy  call 
was  made. 

One  also  could  understand  somewhat  the  feelings  of  Ad- 
miral Evans,  who,  after  it  was  all  over,  sent  this  charac- 
teristic Evans  message  to  the  fleet  in  words  that  every  man 
on  every  ship  understood  thoroughly : 

"  The  Commander-in-Chief  thanks  the  officers  and  men 
of  the  fleet  for  the  handsome  way  they  did  the  trick  today." 

It  was  handsome  and  it  was  stirring.  Of  course  the 
word  trick  was  used  by  the  Admiral  only  in  a  colloquial 
sense ;  there  was  no  trick  about  it,  for  it  was  simply  going 
a  little  out  of  the  way  to  be  nice  and  decent  to  a  people 
who  for  many  years  had  mistrusted  us  and  had  said  things 
too.  But  what  is  the  use  of  being  a  big  nation  if  you 
can't  be  big  hearted  with  it  and  show  that  you  don't  hold 
resentments  ?  A  thousand  to  one  that  Chile's  sincere  friend- 
ship will  be  ours  for  many,  many  years  to  come. 

Unusual  as  this  cruise  is,  it  is  the  unusual  and  unex- 
pected that  have  come  out  from  it  as  its  salient  features. 
The  profound  indifference  of  the  people  of  Trinidad  to  the 
fleet  was  unusual  and  something  of  a  bump.  The  ex- 
uberant welcome  and  unrestrained  hospitality  of  Brazil  was 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  185 

unusual.  The  salutes  to  the  flags  exchanged  between  the 
fleets  of  Argentina  and  the  United  States  on  the  high  seas 
were  unusual.  The  despatch  of  a  cruiser  on  the  part  of 
Chile  to  its  most  remote  port  and  carrying  our  Minister 
was  unusual.  The  Vice-Admiral  salutes  given  all  along  the 
line  to  Admiral  Evans,  whether  by  accident  or  design,  were 
unusual.  Having  a  warship  escort  the  fleet  through  al- 
most the'entire  length  of  its  coast  line,  as  Chile  did,  was  un- 
usual. Lastly  the  departure  from  an  established  pro- 
gramme to  run  into  the  greatest  harbor  of  another  nation 
to  fire  salutes  to  its  flag  and  President  was  unusual. 

From  the  moment  that  the  fleet  headed  out  into  the 
Pacific  from  the  Strait  of  Magellan,  in  company  with  the 
flagship  Chacabuco  carrying  the  flag  of  Admiral  Simpson 
of  the  Chilean  navy,  there  was  much  speculation  as  to  the 
kind  of  reception  it  would  receive  in  Valparaiso.  The 
great  cordiality  shown  by  Admiral  Simpson  and  the 
Chilean  authorities  in  Punta  Arenas  bespoke  the  warmest 
kind  of  a  welcome.  But  speculation  still  continued,  and 
indeed  there  was  little  else  to  do,  for  a  fog  settled  upon  the 
waters,  which,  added  to  the  turbulent  condition  of  the  Pa- 
cific, made  the  trip  for  several  days  one  of  comparative 
gloom.  Occasionally  the  fog  would  lift  and  you  could 
catch  a  glimpse  of  some  of  the  other  divisions  of  the  fleet. 
Once  after  nearly  twenty-four  hours  it  vanished  completely 
and  there  was  a  genuine  ring  of  satisfaction  over  the  sight 
it  must  have  presented  to  the  Chacabuco  far  off  to  the 
westward,  for  there  was  the  entire  American  fleet  exactly  in 
position,  sailing  precisely  as  if  there  had  been  no  fog  to 
hide  the  ships  from  one  another.  But  everybody  knew  that 
it  would  be  so. 


186  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  That's  going  some ;  wonder  what  the  Chilean  Admiral 
thinks  of  that?  "  was  heard  on  all  sides. 

Then  the  fog  shut  in  again  and  for  two  days  more  the 
fleet  ploughed  on.  It  was  in  a  column  of  divisions  forma- 
tion, that  is,  the  four  ships  of  the  first  division  were  abreast 
of  one  another  and  400  yards  apart.  Twelve  hundred 
yards  astern  the  ships  of  the  second  division  were  in  a  sim- 
ilar formation.  The  third  and  fourth  followed  in  the  same 
way.  Sometimes  the  fog  was  so  thick  that  on  the  Louis- 
iana, which  was  on  the  left  flank  of  the  first  line,  we  couldn't 
see  our  nearest  neighbor,  the  Vermont.  The  Connecticut, 
off  to  the  right,  would  toot  her  letter  on  the  whistle,  the 
Kansas  would  toot  hers  at  once  and  then  the  Vermont  would 
sound  hers,  followed  by  the  Louisiana.  The  steering  was 
done  by  compass  almost  entirely.  Occasionally  we  would 
find  the  Vermont  inching  over  to  us  and  she  would  loom  up 
out  of  the  fog  quite  near,  but  her  whistle  would  say : 

"Give  me  a  little  more  room,  please;  the  Kansas  is 
crowding  me  over.  When  she  goes  back  toward  the  flag- 
ship, or  the  flagship  eases  off  a  bit,  I'll  go  back.  Just  a 
little  room,  please !  " 

Then  the  Louisiana  would  swing  off  and  a  fog  bank 
would  cut  off  sight  of  each  other.  Then  there  would  be 
another  lift  and  it  would  be  found  that  one  ship  was  a 
hundred  yards  or  so  ahead  of  the  others,  or  perhaps  that 
they  were  exactly  in  line.  The  searchlights  on  the  ships 
were  thrown  abeam  so  that  for  most  of  the  time  it  was 
comparatively  easy  to  tell  where  your  immediate  neighbor 
was.  Sometimes  we  could  hear  the  ships  of  the  other  di- 
visions whistling  faintly  and  we  wondered  whether  the  fleet 
formation  had  been  broken  seriously  by  currents  or  faulty 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  187 

steering,  but  every  time  the  fog  lightened  there  the  ships 
were,  shifted  now  and  then  a  little,  but  in  the  main  exactly 
where  they  should  be. 

Then  the  Chacabuco  signalled  that  she  intended  to  run 
into  Talcahuano,  the  Chilean  naval  port,  and  would  send 
messages  of  our  safe  passage  through  Magellan  and  also 
notify  the  Chilean  authorities  of  the  hour  of  our  arrival  in 
Valparaiso.  The  two  Admirals  had  agreed  upon  %  o'clock 
on  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  February  14.  The  day  after 
the  Chacabuco  left,  the  air  cleared.  She  agreed  to  meet 
us  again  at  noon  on  February  13  at  a  certain  latitude  and 
longitude  and  sure  enough  shortly  after  8  o'clock  on  the 
13th,  her  smoke  and  that  of  three  torpedo  boats  accom- 
panying her  was  made  out.  On  they  came  and  they  were 
abeam  at  exactly  noon.  Behind  them  was  a  large  passen- 
ger steamer,  loaded  down  with  folks  from  Concepcion, 
Chile.  That  ship  ran  close  to  the  fleet  and  gave  its  pas- 
sengers a  fine  view.  Then  those  in  the  fleet  knew  that  Chile 
took  intense  interest  in  the  passage. 

It  was  necessary  to  slow  to  nine,  then  to  eight  and  then 
to  seven  knots  so  as  not  to  reach  Valparaiso  ahead  of  time. 
The  sea  calmed,  the  sun  came  out  and  a  more  perfect  after- 
noon was  never  witnessed  on  the  ocean. 

Daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  showed  a  lower- 
ing sky.  Just  before  9  o'clock  the  Chilean  coast  could  be 
made  out  and  then  the  fleet  made  one  or  two  turns  and 
twists,  apparently  to  kill  a  little  time.  Admiral  Simpson 
took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  column  which  had  been 
formed  and  his  three  torpedo  boats  took  up  positions  on 
our  right  flank,  the  side  nearest  to  the  city  in  the  harbor,  so 
as  to  protect  the  line  from  any  intrusion.  Just  before  1 


188  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

o'clock  we  could  make  out  the  people  on  the  high  hills 
south  of  Angeles  Point,  fittingly  named  for  a  great  ceme- 
tery sloped  up  the  hillside.  The  place  was  black  with 
spectators.  Around  the  point  we  could  see  the  puffs  of  a 
salute,  given  probably  by  one  of  the  forts  or  ships  to  note 
the  arrival  of  President  Montt.  Then  we  came  close  to 
Angeles  Point.  The  beach  was  thronged.  There  were 
tents  where  jimcracks  were  being  sold  and  double  decker 
tram  cars  were  loaded  to  the  limit.  It  seemed  as  if  all  Val- 
paraiso had  come  out  to  that  place.  The  glasses  were 
turned  upon  Fort  Valdivia,  just  beyond  Point  Angeles.  It 
is  a  naval  station. 

Suddenly  a  midshipman  discovered  that  there  was  a  sign 
in  English  on  one  of  its  terraces.  It  said: 

"  Welcome ! " 

"  That's  mighty  nice  to  whitewash  a  lot  of  stones  in  that 
way,  isn't  it?  "  said  an  officer  on  the  bridge. 

Three  minutes  later  the  navigator  sang  out: 

"  Captain,  that  sign  isn't  made  of  stones.  It's  made  of 
men ! " 

A  dozen  glasses  were  focussed  upon  the  sign  at  once. 
Sure  enough,  stretched  upon  the  terrace  there  lay  a  human 
sign,  made  up  of  sailors  or  naval  cadets  in  white.  It  took 
three  mens'  length  to  make  the  height  of  a  single  letter. 
Two  men  were  required  for  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the 
letter  O.  These  men  must  not  have  been  entirely  comfort- 
able for  they  lay  there  fully  an  hour,  but  the  sign  was  as 
immobile  as  if  it  were  made  of  stone.  That  compliment 
touched  the  kindly  feeling  of  every  one  on  the  ships.  It 
made  a  sensation.  No  one  had  ever  seen  anything  like  that. 
There  was  no  way  of  answering  it  in  kind,  as  you  can  in 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  189 

saluting;  you  could  only  look  at  it  in  dumb  amazement 
and  feel  grateful. 

You  were  glad  then  that  the  compliment  had  been  paid 
to  Admiral  Simpson  of  allowing  him  to  lead  the  fleet  in 
with  his  little  cruiser  —  no  Chilean  naval  officer  ever  had 
such  a  post  of  honor  —  and  all  the  ships  took  keen  notice 
of  the  signal  from  the  flagship  to  fire  a  simultaneous  salute 
of  twenty-one  guns  when  notice  should  be  given.  As  the 
fleet  turned  in  the  glasses  revealed  a  large  collection  of 
ships,  some  of  them  old  whalers,  lying  in  the  harbor. 
Grand  stands  had  been  built  on  various  eminences  for  the 
people  and  hundreds  of  white  parasols  showed  that  the  fair 
sex  was  alive  to  the  great  sea-show. 

Half  an  hour  before  the  fleet  approached  the  harbor  it 
was  noticed  that  a  great  canopy  of  blue  sky  rested  over  it. 
Out  where  the  fleet  was  it  was  still  lowering.  Abreast  of 
Fort  Valdivia  the  fleet  emerged  into  the  sunshine  and  stood 
clearly  revealed.  Every  ship  had  a  bright  new  American 
ensign  at  its  gaff  and  foretruck.  At  every  main  there  was 
a  Chilean  ensign.  A  fresh  breeze  started  up  and  blew  the 
ensigns  out  proudly.  Nature  helped  dress  the  ships  in 
their  best. 

Around  Point  Angeles  the  Connecticut  swept  slowly  and 
majestically.  She  got  well  inside  the  harbor  and  was  al- 
most abeam  of  Duprat  Point  when  a  set  of  flags  fluttered  to 
the  signal  yards.  They  said: 

"  Prepare  to  salute !  " 

The  flags  hung  there  until  all  the  answering  pennants 
were  shown  and  then  they  wavered  an  instant  as  they  be- 
gan to  fall,  and  at  once  the  sixteen  battleships  roared  out  a 
salvo  such  as  no  one  in  Chile  had  ever  heard  before.  The 


190  iWITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

effect  of  the  thunder  was  electric.  The  wind  fortunately 
blew  the  smoke  away  from  the  ships.  People  on  the  shore 
were  seen  to  jump  and  run.  All  along  the  shore  line  below 
Fort  Valdivia  they  began  to  race  back  toward  the  city  and 
harbor  by  the  thousands.  It  was  literally  a  stampede. 
Great  clouds  of  dust  engulfed  them  and  partly  hid  them 
from  view.  It  made  those  on  the  ships  laugh. 

"  The  town  has  gone  out  too  far  and  now  has  to  run 
back,"  they  said. 

Not  so ;  a  glimpse  along  the  waterfront  showed  that  what 
Lieut.  Gherardi,  commanding  the  little  Yankton,  which  had 
arrived  the  day  before  and  was  anchored  in  the  harbor,  all 
beautifully  dressed,  had  sent  by  wireless  early  in  the  morn- 
ing was  true.  Gherardi  said  there  was  intense  interest  in 
the  fleet  and  all  the  stores  and  banks  had  closed  for  the  day. 
A  clear  space  in  front  of  the  shipping  was  preserved. 
Hundreds  of  launches,  sailboats  and  rowboats  were  out  on 
the  water.  The  hills  were  black.  The  highways  running 
down  to  the  waterfront  were  filled.  Flags  were  every- 
where. All  Valparaiso  was  out  to  see  the  great  parade, 
and  for  a  time  it  seemed  that  she  was  looking  on  in  awe. 
Then  there  came  sounds  of  cheering  from  shore  and  occa- 
sionally the  sound  of  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  "  was 
Iieard  as  some  band  played  it. 

In  less  than  two  minutes  after  the  fleet  had  fired  its  salute 
Fort  Valdivia  responded  with  twenty-one  guns.  Then 
Ihree  or  four  miles  across  the  harbor  at  the  other  entrance 
puffs  of  smoke  could  be  seen,  showing  that  an  army  fort 
was  giving  its  greeting  and  saying: 

"  Glad  to  see  you !  " 

Admiral  Simpson  sent  a  message  to  Admiral  Evans  that 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  191 

President  Montt  was  on  the  training  ship  Gen.  Baquedano, 
clear  across  the  harbor,  near  Fort  Callao,  which  had  fired 
the  army  salute.  The  fleet  went  into  the  harbor,  made  a 
slight  turn  and  then  sailed  for  about  half  a  mile  in  a 
straight  line  close  to  the  shipping  and  about  a  mile  from 
shore.  Then  it  curved  away  again  toward  the  harbor  en- 
trance, following  the  lead  of  the  Chacabuco.  It  now 
closed  the  entire  harbor.  Silently  it  approached  an  an- 
chored training  ship,  whose  yards  were  manned.  The  ship 
was  crowded  with  high  governmental  functionaries  and 
their  families  and  friends.  In  one  corner  of  the  bridge  the 
President  could  be  made  out  with  glasses.  The  Chilean 
ensign  with  a  coat  of  arms  on  it,  the  President's  stand- 
ard, was  at  the  main.  When  within  100  yards  of  the 
Baquedano  the  Chacabuco  began  its  salute  of  twenty-one 
guns  to  the  flag  of  its  President.  A  slight  interval  of  si- 
lence followed  and  then  the  Connecticut  roared  out  its  per- 
sonal greeting  to  the  head  of  another  nation.  As  each 
American  ship  approached  it  fired  twenty-one  guns.  The 
air  was  filled  with  smoke,  but  the  strong  breeze  blew  it  away 
and  set  the  sixteen  ensigns  of  Chile  and  the  thirty-two  of 
the  United  States  all  vibrating  and  snapping  out  almost  as 
plainly  as  if  you  could  hear  it: 

"  Hurrah ! " 

In  solemn  state  the  ships  passed  the  uncovered  President. 
He  received  then  and  there  such  a  tribute  of  honor  as  no 
other  President  of  Chile  ever  received.  He  saw  a  collection 
of  worships  such  as  no  other  South  American  President, 
with  the  exception  of  President  Penna  of  Brazil,  ever  saw. 
He  had  the  satisfaction  of  witnessing  a  friendly  tribute 
such  as  no  other  nation  ever  received  from  the  United 


192  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

States.  Whatever  was  the  effect  upon  the  President  and 
the  people  of  Chile,  it  thrilled  those  on  the  American  war- 
ships. 

For  a  mile  or  two  beyond  the  Chacabuco  led  the  fleet  and 
then  it  turned  and  fired  a  salute  to  the  American  flag  as  it 
headed  back  to  Valparaiso.  The  Connecticut  answered 
with  twenty-one  guns  for  the  Chilean  flag,  signalled  to  re- 
sume the  cruising  speed  of  ten  knots  —  and  the  spectacular 
call  on  the  President  of  Chile  and  the  people  of  its  chief 
seaport  was  over.  Altogether  nearly  800  guns  were  fired 
in  the  saluting.  It  was  like  the  roar  of  a  battle. 

In  ten  minutes  after  the  Connecticut  had  fired  its  salute 
to  the  President  and  before  some  of  the  American  ships 
had  begun  theirs  Admiral  Evans  sent  this  message  to 
Admiral  Simpson  on  the  Chacabuco: 

To  Admiral  Simpson: 

The  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  United  States  Atlantic  fleet  begs 
that  you  will  convey  to  the  President  of  the  republic  in  the  name 
of  himself,  officers  and  men,  their  appreciation  of  the  honor  he  has 
done  them  in  reviewing  the  fleet.  Please  add  to  this  my  personal 
expression  of  highest  regard.  In  saying  good-by  to  you,  Admiral 
Simpson,  may  I  express  the  hope  that  we  may  meet  again  in  the 
future,  and  let  me  convey  herein  to  you  the  sincere  thanks  of  my- 
self, officers  and  men  of  the  Atlantic  fleet  for  the  many  acts  of  cour- 
tesy you  have  extended  to  us.  We  wish  you  good  health  and  all 
success. 

EVANS. 

Then  Admiral  Evans  sent  this  to  our  Minister,  Mr. 
Hicks,  on  the  Chacabuco: 

To  Minister  Hicks: 

I  beg  that  you  will  express  to  the  President  of  the  republic  the 
thanks  of  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Atlantic  fleet  for  the  many  gra- 
cious acts  of  courtesy  we  have  received  from  the  representatives  of 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  193 

the  Chilean  Government  since  reaching  their  coast.  I  am  sure  that 
the  people  of  the  United  States  will  fully  appreciate  the  courtesies 
and  that  they  will  go  far  toward  cementing  the  friendship  between 
the  two  nations.  With  expressions  of  highest  consideration  for  you 
personally,  I  remain,  yours  sincerely, 

EVANS. 

In  five  minutes  the  replies  were  being  heard  in  every 
wireless  room  of  the  American  ships.  This  is  what  Ad- 
miral Simpson  said: 

To  Connecticut: 

Many  thanks  for  your  very  kind  message  which  I  will  convey  with 
the  greatest  of  pleasure  to  the  President,  and  my  personal  thanks 
for  your  good  wishes  in  regard  to  myself  and  officers.  They  join 
in  their  good  wishes  for  Admiral  Evans  and  send  a  hearty  farewell 
greeting  to  the  Admiral  and  his  officers  and  men  and  wish  them  all  a 
most  successful  and  prosperous  voyage, 

SIMPSON. 

Mr.  Hicks  said: 

To  Admiral  Evans: 

Your  message  just  received.  I  will  deliver  it  to  President  Montt 
immediately.  Kindest  regards  to  you  and  your  officers.  The  whole 
review  was  all  that  any  one  should  ask  for  and  I  am  proud  of  the 
fleet.  Good-by  and  good  luck  to  you. 

HICKS. 

Then  Admiral  Simpson  sent  this  greeting  from  President 
Montt  to  Admiral  Evans : 

To  Connecticut: 

The  President  instructs  me  to  thank  Admiral  Evans  for  his  very 
kind  message  and  for  having  brought  the  American  fleet  to  Val- 
paraiso and  to  express  to  him  his  admiration  of  its  splendid  appear- 
ance. He  further  requests  me  to  express  to  Admiral  Evans  his  sin- 
cere hopes  that  his  health  will  continue  to  improve  and  his  personal 
desire  that  he  may  arrive  at  his  destination  in  perfect  health. 

SIMPSON. 


194*  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

This  was  followed  by  this  message  from  Minister  Prato 
of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  Chile  and  it  pleased  Admiral 
Evans  immensely: 

To  Admiral  Evans: 

The  Minister  of  War  and  the  Navy,  in  the  name  of  the  republic  of 
Chile,  thanks  profoundly  Admiral  Evans  for  the  delicate  courtesy 
of  his  salute  in  Valparaiso  and  congratulates  him,  the  Admirals,  Cap- 
tains, officers  and  crews  under  him,  for  the  splendid  demonstration 
given  us  to-day  of  seeing  the  power  and  discipline  of  the  fleet  under 
your  command.  With  many  cordial  wishes  for  a  pleasant  voyage 
and  also  for  the  recovery  of  your  health  at  an  early  date, 

BELISARIO  PRATO, 
Minister  of  War  and  the  Navy. 

To  this  greeting  Admiral  Evans  sent  the  final  message  of 
the  day  through  the  Yankton : 

To  Yankton: 

Transmit  this  to  the  Minister  of  War  and  the  Navy  Prato.  The 
cordial  welcome  extended  by  the  officials  and  citizens  of  the  Republic 
of  Chile  has  met  with  our  deep  appreciation,  and  I  am  sure  that 
it  will  be  a  source  of  great  gratification  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  when  they  learn  how  you  have  greeted  us.  It  was  a  great 
pleasure  to  be  reviewed  by  your  distinguished  President,  and  it  gave 
me  the  greatest  satisfaction  to  extend  to  him  the  same  honors  that 
were  extended  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  leaving 
Hampton  Roads.  Hoping  that  my  action  of  to-day  may  in  some 
small  way  draw  closer  the  bonds  of  friendship  which  unite  the  two 
great  republics  and  thanking  you  most  gratefully  for  your  personal 
expressions,  Yours  most  sincerely, 

EVANS. 

It  was  a  good  day's  work,  and  even  if  it  did  cause  the 
fleet  to  lose  a  day  in  the  run  to  Callao  in  addition  to  the 
one  lost  in  Punta  Arenas  in  answering  the  courtesies  of  the 
Chileans,  no  one  begrudged  the  delay. 

The  appearance  of  the  city  of  Valparaiso  was  a  distinct 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  '195 

disappointment  to  those  on  the  fleet  who  had  not  seen  it  be- 
fore. Its  name  means  a  Vale  of  Paradise.  Was  it  in- 
tended as  mockery  ?  One  travel  writer  has  said  that  nature 
never  meant  that  a  city  should  be  planted  there.  The  hills 
come  down  so  near  to  the  water  that  there  is  room  for  only 
four  or  five  streets  parallel  with  it.  The  city  is  strung 
along  the  harbor  for  more  than  two  miles.  To  find  other 
room  for  itself  it  has  to  climb  steep  hills  and  build  homes 
on  terraces.  The  streams  have  made  great  gullies,  or 
barrancas,  in  their  courses  to  the  sea,  and  these  gulches  give 
a  disjointed  appearance  to  the  place.  There  seems  to  be 
no  continuity  about  it.  It  is  irregular,  tilted  here  and 
there  and  most  of  the  hills  have  to  be  overcome  with  steep 
railroads,  like  those  which  climb  the  hills  of  Pittsburg  or 
Cincinnati.  A  line  of  railroad  with  English  carriages  runs 
along  the  waterfront.  The  railroad  finds  an  opening,  not 
visible  from  the  harbor,  where  it  may  escape  the  girdle  of 
the  hills.  There  seem  to  be  few  houses  around  the  water- 
front. 

There  was  little  or  no  color  in  the  buildings.  All  seemed 
to  be  made  of  grayish  mud.  There  was  no  visible  verdure 
in  the  town.  The  hills  were  brown,  as  if  blighted  by  a 
great  drought.  All  was  bleak  and  bare  and  dusty.  The 
place  looked  barren  and  almost  cheerless.  A  greater  con- 
trast to  hill  and  mountain  adorned  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  last 
large  city  we  saw,  heavy  with  its  mantle  of  green,  could  not 
be  imagined  than  this  sun-baked,  brown  collection  of  dull- 
colored  buildings  constituting  a  great  seaport.  The  effects 
of  the  earthquake  of  last  year  could  be  seen  here  and  there 
with  a  glass.  Walls  were  broken  and  buildings  toppled 
over.  This  added  all  the  more  to  the  forlorn  appearance 


196  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

of  the  place,  but  it  gave  point  to  the  exuberant  welcome 
which  its  people  gave  to  the  fleet. 

The  day  before  the  fleet  sailed  into  Valparaiso  harbor  it 
had  a  little  celebration,  somewhat  unusual  on  the  high  seas, 
that  was  strictly  American.  The  cruiser  Chicago,  bound 
for  the  Atlantic  from  San  Francisco,  met  us.  Wireless 
signals  had  been  exchanged  and  about  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  the  smoke  of  the  Chicago  could  be  made  out  on 
the  horizon.  An  hour  later  she  was  approaching  the  flag- 
ship. Then  she  saluted  the  Admiral's  flag.  Every  ship 
had  been  told  to  show  passing  honors.  The  guard  was 
paraded,  the  rails  manned  and  the  band  was  on  the  quarter- 
deck. The  fleet  and  the  Chicago  almost  drifted  by  one 
another.  As  the  Chicago  passed  down  the  line  the  band  on 
every  battleship  played  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner." 
When  the  bars  were  finished  on  the  Louisiana  the  band 
struck  up  u  Home,  Sweet  Home."  The  long  homeward 
bound  pennant  of  the  Chicago  seemed  to  have  an  extra 
flutter  in  it  as  the  notes  sounded  over  the  smooth  sea.  In 
many  a  man's  throat  there  was  a  gulp.  After  the  fleet  had 
passed  the  Chicago  hove  to  and  lay  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  all  its  men  gazing  as  a  fond  relative  after  another 
for  which  fate  had  decreed  a  long  separation. 

It  was  a  pretty  ceremony,  and  it  furnished  food  for 
naval  thought.  There  was  the  first  steel  ship  of  the  United 
States  navy,  the  flagship  of  the  White  Squadron  of  more 
than  twenty  years  ago  of  which  Americans  were  so  proud. 
She  seemed  a  puny  thing  beside  any  one  of  this  fleet.  The 
earliest  and  the  latest  in  modern  American  warship  build- 
ing were  presented  to  the  eye.  And  what  an  advance! 
Still  the  Chicago  presented  a  smart  appearance  and  her 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  VALPARAISO  197 

8-inch  guns,  with  which  she  holds  the  navy  record,  told 
that  she  was  still  useful  and  she  could  hold  up  her  head 
proudly.  Every  one  was  glad  she  was  still  in  existence. 
Right  then  and  there  many  a  young  American  naval  officer 
got  a  better  idea  of  the  growth  and  strength  of  the  navy 
than  most  of  his  books  and  his  study  could  reveal  to  him. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  motive  that  impelled  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  to  send  this  fleet  on  its  long  journey  to  the 
Pacific  —  whether  it  was  to  dare  Japan  to  resent  it  or  to 
serve  notice  on  that  nation  to  be  good ;  whether  it  was  for 
political  effect  on  the  Pacific  Coast  in  the  hope  of  rounding 
up  delegates  for  some  one  candidate  for  President  or  elect- 
ing some  man  United  States  Senator;  whether  it  was  in 
accord  with  some  suggestion  perhaps  that  Secretary  Root 
made  in  his  trip  to  South  America ;  whether  it  was  simply 
a  desire  to  be  spectacular;  whether  it  was  a  sincere  belief 
that  the  navy  needed  just  such  a  cruise  to  fit  it  for  its  best 
work  and  the  Pacific  was  as  much  entitled  to  see  how  it 
could  be  protected  as  the  Atlantic;  whether  it  was  for  any 
or  all  of  these,  and  all  have  been  suggested  in  print  — 
whatever  it  was,  let  this  be  said  as  to  the  unexpected  and 
to  some  extent  unforeseen  advantages  that  have  resulted: 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  is  to-day  more  of  a  living,  vital 
thing  with  the  nations  of  South  America  because  of  the 
cruise  of  this  fleet  than  it  has  ever  been  since  President 
Monroe  penned  its  words. 


CHAPTER  X 


Gracious  and  Artistic  and  Inspired  by  Cordial  Friendship  —  Sailors 
in  the  Bullring  —  Work  of  the  Matadors  Considered  From  a  Nau- 
tical Point  of  View  —  Interchange  of  Good  Wishes  by  Admiral 
Thomas  and  President.  Pardo  —  Charms  of  a  City  That  Survives 
From  the  Middle  Ages  — Trip  15,000  Feet  Up  the  Andes  — Re- 
mains of  Pizarro  —  Journalistic  Compliments  and  Official  Enter- 
tainments. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

OFF  CALLAO  HARBOR,  Feb.  29. 

PERU  remembered ! 
Almost  as  trite  as  the  saying  that  corporations  have 
no  souls,  or  that  politics  makes  strange  bed  fellows, 
is  another  that  in  international  affairs  the  friends  of  yes- 
terday, may  be  the  foes  of  to-day,  and  that  nations,  as 
nations,  have  no  memories.     If  it  is  true,  Peru  is  the  rule 
proving  exception.     Her  gracious  welcome  to  the  Ameri- 
can fleet,  from  the  first  acclaim  of  greeting  to  the  last  fare- 
well, was  marked  by  a  sincerity  that  was  peculiar  in  the 
exchange  of  international  courtesies. 

There  was  reason  for  this.  Of  all  South  American 
countries  none  is  more  devotedly  the  friend  of  the  United 
States  than  Peru.  In  the  time  of  Peru's  direct  distress,  when 
the  hell  horrors  of  war  left  her  plundered,  sacked,  pillaged, 

198 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     199 

as  no  nation  in  modern  times  has  been  despoiled;  when  she 
was  bereft  of  nearly  her  entire  population  of  early  man- 
hood; when  dynamite  and  the  torch  were  employed  in  a 
heartless  exhibition  of  brutality  to  mark  as  permanently 
as  possible  the  pathway  of  a  mocking  conquerer ;  when  the 
vandalism  of  victory  even  destroyed  the  trees  of  botanical 
gardens,  robbed  altars  of  decorations,  cut  paintings  from 
frames  to  make  bonfires,  pillaged  the  savings  of  children, 
destroyed  civic  utilities  for  the  sake  of  wanton  destruc- 
tion ;  when  the  conqueror  struck  the  most  terrible  blow  that 
a  conqueror  can  strike,  the  violation  of  the  sanctity  of 
homes  —  and  be  it  remembered  that  the  women  of  Peru 
are  declared  by  all  authority  to  be  the  most  beautiful, 
proud  and  high  spirited  in  the  world  —  when  all  this  was 
done,  the  first  nation  to  comfort,  to  advise,  to  shield  \vas 
the  United  States. 

True,  once  or  twice  the  United  States  seemed  to  falter 
and  Peru  almost  cried  out  with  bitterness  because  of  it,  but 
there  was  another  handclasp  with  sincere  words  of  real 
friendship  back  of  it  and  Peru  emerged  from  her  trial 
grateful  and  steadfast.  That  was  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago  and  Peru  said  she  would  remember.  Her  hospitality  to 
the  great  American  fleet  proved  that  she  did.  She  is  no 
longer  poverty  stricken.  She  is  fairly  well-to-do  and 
things  are  looking  better  all  the  time.  She  lives  in  com- 
fort. She  even  wears  colors  occasionally.  She  has  young 
men  again  and  their  energy  is  making  for  prosperity  and 
advancement  all  around.  To  the  American  fleet  Peru  said 
as  plainly  as  could  be: 

"  I  am  truly  glad  to  see  you.  We  can't  do  as  much  for 
you  in  the  way  of  entertainment  as  our  hearts  could  wish. 


200  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

We  can't  lavish  wealth  upon  you,  but  such  as  we  have  is 
yours,  all  yours.  We  have  remembered." 

And  so  it  was  that  Peru's  entertainment  of  the  fleet  was 
not  extravagant  or  burdensome.  It  was  delicate  rather 
than  effusive.  It  was  the  welcome  and  hospitality  of  high 
breeding.  From  the  first  gun  of  the  cruiser  Bolognesi, 
sent  250  miles  out  to  sea  to  escort  the  fleet  in  to  Callao,  to 
the  last  "  Eep !  Eep !  Eep !  Oorah ! "  on  the  tug  that  fol- 
lowed us  furthest  to  sea  as  we  left  this  morning  every  act 
of  hospitality  was  in  perfect  taste  and  in  a  spirit  utterly 
foreign  to  vulgar  display. 

Yes,  Peru  remembered,  and  its  effect  upon  the  Ameri- 
can visitors  was  well  expressed  officially  by  Rear  Admiral 
Thomas  on  board  the  Connecticut  on  February  27  at  a 
dinner  given  in  honor  of  President  Pardo  when  he  said: 

"  Nothing  has  been  left  undone  that  would  add  to  our 
convenience,  comfort  or  happiness,  and,  permit  me  to  say, 
as  military  men,  with  the  instinct  of  organization,  we  have 
been  impressed  with  the  perfection  of  every  detail  and  the 
artistic  taste  displayed  at  every  entertainment  from  the 
time  the  fleet  dropped  anchor  in  Callao  Bay  to  the  occa- 
sion of  the  brilliant  garden  party  at  the  exposition  grounds. 
But  most  important  of  all,  and  that  which  has  touched  our 
hearts  deeply,  is  the  warmth  and  sincerity  of  the  welcome 
that  has  been  accorded  to  us,  so  patent  to  all. 

"  In  our  fleet  there  are  nearly  six  hundred  officers  and 
fourteen  thousand  men,  and  when  we  reach  home  waters 
and  in  the  course  of  time  these  officers  and  men  are  dis- 
persed throughout  the  forty-five  States  of  the  Union,  visit- 
ing their  respective  homes,  each  and  every  one  of  them  will 
be  a  missionary  to  carry  a  message  throughout  oux  broad 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     201 

land  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Canadian 
border  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  telling  of  this  welcome,  the 
result  of  which  must  of  necessity  tend  to  the  drawing 
closer  and  closer  the  ties  of  union  between  the  two  republics. 
It  will  be  a  tradition  to  be  handed  down  not  only  to  our 
children,  but  to  our  children's  children." 

The  Admiral's  speech  was  the  fleet's  answer  to  the  formal 
welcome  of  President  Pardo  at  a  dinner  the  republic  gave 
to  the  Americans  on  the  night  of  Washington's  Birthday. 
This  translation  of  the  President's  words  was  placed  in 
front  of  each  of  the  guests  the  instant  President  Pardo 
finished. 

ADMIRAL:  The  arrival  at  our  shores  of  American  warships  has 
always  been  looked  forward  to  with  the  greatest  pleasure  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Peru  and  her  citizens,  as  it  gives  us  an  opportunity  for 
showing  the  true  friendship  which  exists  between  this  country  and  the 
United  States  and  for  my  countrymen  to  extend  a  cordial  welcome 
to  the  American  Navy. 

Were  it  possible  our  welcome  would  be  augmented  by  the  glorious 
spectacle  which  you  present  us  in  Callao  of  the  starry  banner  waving 
from  the  masts  of  the  most  powerful  fleet  that  has  ever  navigated  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  as  well  as  by  your  most  successful  accomplishment  of 
this  difficult  voyage,  which  demonstrates  the  power  and  discipline  of 
the  American  Navy,  to-day  universally  acknowledged  by  the  entire 
world. 

With  the  sincere  welcome  of  the  Government  and  the  people  of  Peru 
we  wish  to  express  our  admiration  of  the  justice  which  has  inspired 
President  Roosevelt's  policy  in  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
with  the  Latin-American  countries  and  their  relations  between  them- 
selves, a  policy  which  has  met  with  the  utmost  success  in  the  recent 
conference  at  Washington  and  assures  a  permanent  peace  in  Central 
America. 

A  welcome  to  you,  Admirals  and  officers  of  the  American  fleet. 
Peru  receives  you  with  hearty  friendship  and  reminds  you  that  you 
are  on  friendly  strands. 

On  this  day,  when  your  country  honors  the  memory  of  George 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Washington,  the  founder  of  its  glorious  independence  and  of  its  ad- 
mirable form  of  government,  I  ask  you  to  join  me  in  the  toast  I  pro- 
pose. 

The  prosperity  of  the  United  States,  the  health  of  its  eminent 
President,  Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  that  good  luck  may  always  accom- 
pany the  fleet  under  your  command. 

So  much  for  the  official  welcome.  The  unofficial  wel- 
come was  everywhere.  It  began  as  soon  as  the  ships  en- 
tered Callao  Bay.  There  are  no  headlands  or  hills  sur- 
rounding the  harbor,  which  is  practically  an  open  road- 
stead. The  fleet  had  to  anchor  two  miles  out.  The  har- 
bor was  crowded  with  all  sorts  of  little  craft  laden  to  the 
danger  point.  Every  tug,  every  launch,  all  the  sailboats 
that  could  be  found,  rowing  barges,  dories,  two  large 
oceangoing  steamers,  came  out  to  say  howdy  and  bearing 
cheering  people  by  the  thousand.  Some  of  the  little  craft 
fired  national  salutes  with  toy  cannon.  Those  that  had 
whistles  tied  down  the  cords.  One  tug  was  crowded  with 
young  men  who  insisted  on  giving  the  Cornell  yell  every 
time  a  ship  passed  by. 

As  soon  as  anchors  were  cast  a  look  shoreward  revealed 
that  tens  of  thousands  had  come  to  the  waterfront.  Later 
when  one  went  ashore  he  learned  that  the  Government  had 
declared  a  holiday  in  honor  of  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  and 
that  all  of  Callao  and  Lima9  seven  miles  distant,  had  come 
down  to  see  the  ships.  The  stores  and  shops  were  closed 
as  if  it  were  Sunday.  Business  was  at  a  standstill.  Of- 
ficial visits  were  begun  at  once,  but  those  who  could  get 
away  made  haste  to  go  to  Lima  on  the  modern  trolley 
S3rstem  which  in  addition  to  two  railroads  accommodates  the 
traffic  between  the  two  cities. 

The  visitor  noted  that  Callao  was  an  ill  smelling  place  of 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     203 

garish  colored  houses  and  narrow  streets  —  a  mere  port  of 
40,000  inhabitants  —  and  that  it  had  many  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  some  of  the  cities  on  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Once  out  in  the  flat  country,  the  visitor 
was  reminded  somewhat  of  the  country  between  Brooklyn 
and  Coney  Island.  Truck  farms  were  frequent.  What 
looked  to  be  American  corn  was  growing  profusely  side 
by  side  with  banana  trees  and  sugarcane  fields.  Patches 
of  good  old  fashioned  vegetables  —  onions,  cabbages,  rad- 
ishes, lettuce — were  also  under  cultivation.  Large  herds 
of  fine  cattle  grazed  on  some  of  the  fields,  and  in  others 
were  herded  splendid  flocks  of  sheep.  It  looked  almost 
like  home.  The  fences  alone  were  strange.  They  were 
made  of  thick  blocks  of  dried  mud.  The  entire  cultiva- 
tion was  dependent  upon  irrigation  from  the  Rimac  River, 
the  splendid  mountain  stream  that  dashes  down  from  the 
Andes  in  a  torrent  clear  to  the  sea. 

Then  one  came  to  Lima  itself,  situated  on  a  plain  girdled 
by  the  foothills  of  the  Andes,  with  its  low  lying  houses, 
all  made  of  mud  plastered  upon  bamboo  reeds,  with  not  a 
roof  in  the  city  that  would  shed  water,  for  in  Lima  it  never 
rains;  to  Lima,  the  one  city  in  the  Western  Hemisphere 
which  has  preserved  a  large  amount  of  the  architecture  of 
the  Middle  Ages  and  is  rich  in  traditions  of  the  past. 
There  in  this  city  of  150,000  people  with  its  well  paved 
streets,  its  bustling  activities,  its  fine  climate  (the  tempera- 
ture never  goes  above  80  degrees,  although  the  city  is  only 
1£  degrees  from  the  equator)  and  attractive  people  the 
Americans  found  plastered  on  every  building  in  town  a 
paper  reproduction  of  the  American  flag  with  the  words 
printed  on  it: 


204  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Welcome  to  the  American  fleet !  " 

Peru's  flag  was  posted  by  its  side  frequently.  The 
Government  had  done  it.  You  see  every  person  in  town 
couldn't  come  up  to  you  and  tell  you  that  he  or  she  was 
glad  to  see  you.  He  or  she  was;  but  it  had  to  be  told  in 
some  other  way,  and  so  these  placards  voiced  the  feeling 
of  the  people.  If  anything  else  were  needed  to  complete 
the  greeting  it  was  supplied  when  the  Diario,  the  leading 
newspaper  of  Lima,  came  out  with  halftone  reproductions 
of  ships,  officers  and  the  Annapolis  Academy,  a  page  of 
news  in  English  from  the  United  States  and  a  formal  wel- 
come to  the  fleet.  This  welcome  was  unique.  It  is  worth 
reproducing  at  length.  This  is  what  it  said: 

Every  social  class  in  our  country,  all  the  elements  which  make  up 
the  life  of  Peru,  have  attended  with  sincere  exhilaration  to  contem- 
plate the  gallant  representatives  of  the  power  and  greatness  of  the 
United  States. 

These  ships  come  after  a  trial  of  resistance  which  has  proved  the 
discipline,  the  self-denial,  the  moral  energy,  the  patriotic  pride  of 
race,  all  those  eminent  faculties  which  beautify  the  spirit  and  elevate 
the  personality  of  the  great  republic  of  the  north. 

Peru  has  the  glory  and  good  fortune  among  the  nations  of  America 
to  offer  its  hospitable  strand  to  serve  as  a  shelter  during  the  short  stay 
which  their  itinerary  imposes  on  our  guests. 

Peru  receives  them  with  the  affection  of  brothers,  with  the  tradi- 
tional and  courteous  nobleness  of  our  race,  with  the  sympathetic  and 
respectful  admiration  which  the  example  of  the  great  and  lofty  North 
American  virtues  awaken  in  our  mind. 

A  people  which  has  itself  worked  up  in  its  own  laboratory  such  a 
colossal  fermentation  of  greatness,  a  people  which  owes  everything  to 
the  efforts,  to  the  activity,  to  the  work,  to  the  initiative  of  its  men, 
a  people  which  has  not  forsworn  the  splendid  incentives  of  its  ideals, 
and  which  carries  within  itself  as  a  secret  impulse  to  irradiate  its 
spirit  beyond  its  natural  boundaries,  is  a  people  which  raises  in  all 
others  the  warm  and  ample  admiration  which  the  Americans  have  ex- 
perienced in  the  entire  course  of  their  voyage. 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     205 

The  powerful  fleet  which  to-day  reaches  our  shores,  the  most  for- 
midable and  splendid  which  has  stemmed  the  waters  of  this  continent, 
does  not  come  on  a  war  footing  or  as  a  menace.  A  high  sense  of 
political  prevision,  the  most  eminent  virtue  of  a  statesman,  induced 
President  Roosevelt  to  order  the  movement  of  the  Atlantic  fleet  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  illustrious  governor  who  carries  on  his  shoulders 
the  enormous  responsibility  of  directing  this  great  people  has  proved 
himself  worthy  of  his  post,  contemplating  with  serenity  and  firmness 
all  future  eventualities,  and  consistent  with  his  pacific  intentions, 
which  do  not  exclude  designs  of  warlike  prudence,  has  prepared  him- 
self by  this  spirited  parade  of  force  to  prevent  a  war. 

No  technical  authority,  either  military  or  diplomatic,  believes  in 
the  probability  or  imminence  of  a  great  war.  The  United  States 
have  many  efficacious  resources  for  dissolving  or  removing  indefinitely 
the  threatening  and  apocalyptic  spectre  of  a  universal  conflagration 
such  as  would  take  place  in  the  world,  given  the  present  aggrupations 
of  factors. 

Their  economic  strength,  their  marvellous  industrial  richness,  their 
bullion  reserves,  their  growing  population,  their  formidable  means  of 
attack  and  defence  which  we  contemplate  to-day,  all  thet>e  are  so 
many  conservative  encouragements  which  will  help  to  check  audacity 
and  outside  ambition. 

This  welcome  is  presented  to  show  how  Lima  and  the 
editors  of  the  Diarlo  really  tried  to  make  the  Americans 
feel  at  ease.  Of  course  the  printed  English  translation 
failed  to  do  full  credit  to  the  excellent  Castilian  of  the 
original,  but  there  could  be  no  mistaking  the  genuineness 
of  the  welcome. 

It  was  sincere  all  right,  and  no  doubt  there  was  a  proud 
man  in  Lima  as  he  contemplated  the  mass  of  fine  words  he 
had  piled  up.  As  soon  as  the  paper  came  out  and  the 
Americans  had  passed  the  word  along  that  it  was  great 
there  was  a  rush  to  get  it.  The  visitors  stopped  one 
another  on  the  street  corners  to  read  it  aloud  and  the  general 
comment  was: 


206  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Fine !  It  makes  us  feel  as  if  we  were  right  back  in 
Brooklyn.  No  such  language  as  that  can  be  read  in  a 
newspaper  in  any  other  place  in  the  world  except  Brooklyn. 
Of  course  we  are  used  to  such  expressions  as  '  colossal  fer- 
mentation of  greatness,"  '  threatening  and  apocalyptic 
spectre,'  'aggrupations  of  factors  '  and  the  like  of  that 
in  Brooklyn,  but  who  would  have  imagined  that  we'd  meet 
'em  so  far  from  home  ?  " 

And  as  if  that  wasn't  enough  to  make  it  plain  to  the 
Americans  that  the  freedom  of  the  place  was  theirs  they 
were  met  at  the  terminal  of  the  trolley  line  from  Callao 
with  men  who  distributed  a  pamphlet  of  information  got 
out  by  a  firm  with  American  names,  makers  and  purveyors 
of  a  popular  libation.  The  title  page  bore  this  inscrip- 
tion: 

"  Here's  happy  days  to  the  men  of  the  American  squad- 
ron!" 

The  inside  of  the  pamphlet  told  salient  facts  and  gave 
statistics  about  Callao  and  Lima,  informed  you  how  to  get 
about,  where  to  go  and  what  to  see  among  the  "  points  of 
interest."  The  way  it  put  the  matter  was  this :  "  Over 
and  above  a  hearty  welcome,  here's  what's  worth  while." 
It  advised  the  visitors  to  give  the  sexton  of  the  Cathedral 
a  tip  for  showing  them  Pizarro's  bones,  but  said : 

"  Don't  tip  him  too  much  or  you'll  spoil  the  market, 
'cause  this  isn't  New  York." 

Then  the  pamphlet  said,  sundry  items  of  advertising 
being  eliminated: 

SPECIAL  NOTES.—  DRINKS  and  their  PRICES.—"  SWEAR  WORDS  » 
and  How  to  say  them  in  SPANISH,  etc. 

Cocktail  25  to  30  cts.  peruvian  equal  to  15  cts.  American.    Whis- 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     207 

key,  Gin,  Sherry  ("hair  ace")  Port  (Oporto)  etc.  all  cost  the  same. 
The  Cocktails  known  here  are,  American,  Martini,  Whiskey,  and 
Fresas  (strawberry). 

No!  is  No!  just  as  we  say  it,  and  the  harder  you  pronounce  it  the 
better  it  is  understood. 

YES  !  ...  .si,  pronounced  "  see." 

Vaya....go  on,  pronounced  as  spelt  (Roseveltian,  excuse  this). 

Sigue  no  mas!  (seegay  no  mas)  Drive  on! 

Corida  de  Toros,  Bull-Fight 

Plaza  de  Toros     Bull  Ring 

Toro  ............  Bull 

Torero  ..........  Bull  Fighter 

Matador  .........  The  Killer,  this  is  the  man  who  finally  does  the 

trick. 

Fuera  Toro!!!.  ..  .pronounced  fuera  toro,  "put  the  Bull  out.  he's 
no  good  !  Give  us  a  Bull  that  Fights  : 


(Blank  spaces  for  american  expressions  if  your  Spanish  runs  short 
or  thick.) 

While  it  isn't  as  fast  as  Coney  Island,  Luna  Park,  Steeplechase, 
nor  the  Hippodrome,  you'll  move  quite  as  "  fast  "  if  you  get  down 
into  the  Ring. 

Wishing  you  each  and  all  a  most  pleasant  sojourn  in  this  "City 
of  the  Kings  "  and  a  bon  voyage  on  your  journey  Northward. 

Then  began  the  exploration  of  Lima.  Standing  on  one 
side  of  the  beautiful  Plaza  de  Armas  is  the  great  Cathedral, 
which  was  started  in  1540  and  which  cost  $9,000,000, 
despite  the  fact  that  its  walls  are  of  mud  and,  as  one  writer 
has  said,  could  be  run  through  with  a  fence  rail  in  almost 
any  place.  It  was  the  inside  decoration  that  cost  so  much, 
for  it  has  rare  wood  carvings,  and  once  was  fairly  plastered 
with  gold  and  silver  stolen  by  Pizarro,  "  the  pious  old  cut- 
throat," from  the  Incas.  You  see,  Pizarro  founded  Lima 
in  15S5,  and  although  he  was  known  as  the  "  Indian 
butcher,"  he  began  right  by  establishing  a  Cathedral,  and 
there  his  bones  in  a  mummified  condition  rest.  They  are 


208  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

kept  in  a  glass  case  and  are  in  a  crypt.  An  attendant 
takes  you  to  the  coffin,  lights  a  candle  for  you  to  read  the 
inscription  on  the  case  and  to  peer  in  and  you  get  a  first 
rate  look  at  a  mummy. 

Pizarro  undoubtedly  knew  his  business  well.  He  gath- 
ered in  the  millions  upon  millions  that  the  Incas  had  saved 
up  for  a  rainy  day.  It  was  explained  that  Pizarro  had 
found  out  that  it  never  rained  where  he  intended  to  set  up 
in  Lima  and  therefore  he  told  the  Incas  they  really  had  no 
use  for  all  that  gold  and  he  would  take  it,  establish  a  city 
and  give  them  real  religion  and  be  a  missionary  and  all  that 
for  them. 

"  All  of  which,"  as  a  bluejacket  who  had  been  reading 
up  the  history  of  the  place  said,  "  he  done  good  and 
proper." 

Pizarro  attracted  the  attention  of  thousands  of  the 
visitors.  Not  all  were  irreverent  or  flippant.  Many  of 
them  paused  a  long  time  before  the  mortal  remains  of  one 
the  greatest  men  in  historjr.  You  felt  as  if  you  were  really 
at  a  shrine. 

Then  the  explorers  visited  other  churches  which  took 
one  back  to  the  Middle  Ages.  There  was  the  Franciscan 
convent  and  church.  There  was  the  church  where  the  re- 
mains of  Santa  Rosa,  the  only  American  woman  saint,  rest. 
Then  there  were  numerous  other  edifices  with  old  doors 
and  heavy  bolts  and  locks,  and  inside  some  of  them  were 
decorated  with  what  seemed  to  be  solid  sheets  of  gold  about 
their  pillars ;  churches  where  there  were  beautiful  old  paint- 
ings of  religious  subjects,  churches  where  the  tiling  was 
brought  from  Europe  and  is  now  almost  priceless  in  value, 
churches  where  there  were  historic  parchments. 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     209 

The  visitors  then  went  to  see  the  Senate  Chamber,  with 
its  carved  ceiling,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world  in  that 
line ;  brought  from  Europe  and  paid  for  with  Inca  treasure 
in  1560.  That  room  was  used  in  the  days  of  the  Inquisition, 
which  lasted  longer  in  Peru  than  in  Spain  and  was  almost 
as  terrible.  In  fact  in  this  viceregal  city,  the  second 
founded  in  the  Americas  by  the  Spanish,  one  could  see  re- 
ligious emblems  at  every  turn.  Just  outside  the  city  on  a 
hill  overlooking  the  bullring  is  an  enormous  cross,  probably 
fifty  feet  high.  Every  year  the  society  that  had  it  erected 
makes  a  pilgrimage  up  that  hill  after  a  parade  in  the  city 
and  holds  services,  wherein  vows  to  uphold  the  faith  and 
lead  lives  of  purity  and  honor  are  retaken.  On  a  dozen 
other  hills  crosses  and  shrines  may  be  seen. 

It  is  evident  that  Peru  as  a  nation  is  still  devout,  but  if 
one  could  have  seen  the  crowd  at  the  San  Pedro  Church 
on  Sunday  morning  when  the  doors  were  opened  and  the 
beauty  and  high  blood  of  Lima  came  out  from  their  de- 
votions he  would  have  been  convinced  that  Peru  is  really 
no  exception  to  other  Latin  American  countries,  and  indeed 
most  other  countries,  in  that  the  women  are  the  mainstay  of 
the  church.  That  beauty  parade  is  one  of  the  sights  of 
Lima,  and  the  Americans,  officers  and  men,  were  there,  side 
by  side  with  the  men  of  the  city  to  see  the  show. 

As  the  visitors  went  about,  one  change,  national  in  char- 
acter, impressed  itself  upon  them  immediately.  Every 
writer  on  Peru  has  commented  on  the  fact  that  the  head- 
dress of  the  women,  worn  universally,  is  the  black  manta. 
It  is  said  that  it  is  a  relic  that  has  come  down  from  the 
Incas  when  they  put  on  mourning  for  their  great  chief 
Atahualpa.  Rich  and  poor  have  worn  that  headdress  on 


210  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  street  for  centuries.     It  was  an  established  institution. 

Well,  it  is  going.  About  one-half  of  the  women,  some 
of  them  in  good  circumstances  evidently,  wore  mantas  on 
the  streets,  but  as  for  the  rest  —  well,  a  man  has  no  busi- 
ness to  write  about  women's  hats.  All  that  this  man  can 
say  is  that  he  never  saw  more  dazzling  specimens  of  flower 
gardens  than  those  bobbing  around  over  the  graceful 
drapery  with  which  the  Peruvian  women  adorn  themselves. 

Thus  does  fashion  war  successfully  upon  established  cus- 
tom. The  Peruvian  woman  loves  a  beautiful  hat  just  as 
much  as  any  other  woman  on  earth.  Moreover,  what  is 
said  about  her  surpassing  beauty  is  true.  Given  great 
beauty  and  the  love  of  a  hat  on  the  part  of  a  woman  — 
what  chance  has  a  black  manta  got?  The  manta  has  got 
to  go  and  is  going.  Truly  this  is  a  world  of  change  and 
there  are  those  who  will  say  it  is  one  of  decay,  but  let  no 
one  breathe  that  in  a  fashionable  millinery  shop  in  Lima. 

Then  came  more  sightseeing.  All  the  clubs  of  the  city 
were  thrown  open.  All  the  postal  card  shops  had  extra 
supplies. 

"  English  Spoken  Here  "  was  posted  on  the  windows  and 
doors  of  scores  of  shops.  One  sign  that  was  amusing  to 
the  Americans  read: 


AMERICAN   SPOKEN   HERE. 
BUY  A  SEWING  MACHINE. 


The  first  formal  entertainment  came  on  the  night  of 
Washington's  Birthday,  when  the  officers  of  the  fleet  were 
the  guests  of  the  republic  and  the  President  at  dinner. 
The  banquet  was  given  at  the  exposition  grounds,  a  park 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     211 

where  sundry  exhibits  of  great  worth  from  the  standpoint 
of  history,  natural  history,  commerce,  education  and  the 
like,  are  preserved.  The  dinner  was  in  the  grand  hall  of 
the  main  building.  The  decorations  were  almost  exclu- 
sively of  the  colors  of  Peru,  red  and  white.  On  the  stage 
an  immense  orchestra  was  massed  and  the  American  colors 
were  used  there  for  decorations.  That  band  played  as 
only  a  trained  South  American  band  can  play. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  naval  officers  who  have  dined  the 
world  over,  with  kings  and  emperors,  with  great  welcoming 
committees  and  the  like,  with  Government  guests  of  our 
own  in  Washington  and  New  York,  that  they  had  never 
attended  a  better  managed  affair  than  that  dinner  in  Lima. 
Not  only  was  the  dinner  perfect  from  an  epicurean  stand- 
point but  the  service  matched  it.  Every  appointment  was 
in  the  best  taste.  Not  the  slightest  detail  was  lacking. 
The  American  officers  grew  enthusiastic  and  when  Presi- 
dent Pardo  finished  his  address  of  welcome  there  was  tremen- 
dous enthusiasm.  The  President,  after  Admiral  Thomas 
had  made  his  reply,  arose  and  walked  into  a  beautiful  illu- 
minated garden  and  there  the  diners  met  him  socially  and 
found  this  young  man,  who  represents  what  Peru  has 
needed  most  for  years,  a  commercial  and  not  a  military  gov- 
ernment, delightful  and  unassuming,  with  a  grasp  upon 
matters  of  statesmanship  which  showed  that  not  only  was 
he  practical  in  his  management  of  the  country  but  a  good 
deal  of  a  scholar.  Pardo  believes  in  education  rather  than 
the  sword,  in  the  development  of  commerce  rather  than  in 
personal  aggrandizement  and  the  display  of  military  force. 

Then  there  was  a  garden  party  at  Minister  Coomb's 
home,  a  beautiful  place;  the  garden  party  of  the  munici- 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

pality  at  the  exposition  grounds,  pronounced  by  all  the 
naval  officers  as  the  finest  thing  of  the  kind  they  ever  at- 
tended; the  delightful  ball  at  the  National  Club  and  the 
excursion  to  the  famous  Inca  ruins  of  Pachacamac.  The 
officers  had  the  eminent  archaeologist,  Dr.  Unhe,  to  explain 
the  wonders  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  the  other  buildings 
and  the  hundreds  of  specimens  of  pottery,  metal  and  other 
things  recovered  from  the  ruins  at  Pachacamac. 

But  with  all  these  functions  there  were  two  others  offered 
by  the  Government  as  the  chief  things  in  the  way  of  en- 
tertainment, a  bull  fight  and  a  trip  up  the  wonderful  Oroya 
railroad  to  the  top  of  the  Andes  Mountains,  the  highest 
place  in  the  world  reached  by  a  railroad. 

Now,  as  to  that  bull  fight.  Let  it  be  said  at  once  that 
in  the  main  it  was  like  all  other  bull  fights,  described  thous- 
ands upon  thousands  of  times.  All  the  trappings  and  fit- 
tings were  there.  Of  course,  the  bulls  had  no  show.  They 
had  to  die,  six  of  them.  It  was  just  as  brutal  as  Americans 
are  wont  to  call  such  exhibitions,  with  the  exception  that 
no  horses  were  allowed  to  be  disembowelled  and  killed. 
Peru  up  to  two  years  ago  had  always  fought  bulls  with  the 
horse  killing  feature  eliminated.  For  that  reason  many 
persons  regarded  her  bull  fighting  as  the  best  in  the  world. 
Two  years  ago  the  people  demanded  a  change  and  horses 
were  gored  in  the  style  of  Spain's  best  brutality.  Out  of 
respect  for  the  Americans,  and  by  order  of  the  President, 
the  horse-goring  feature  was  omitted  this  time. 

There  was  plenty  of  excitement.  All  three  of  the  mata- 
dors were  injured.  One  was  tossed  by  the  first  bull  three 
minutes  after  the  animal  had  entered  the  ring.  That 
settled  the  famous  Bonarillo.  He  went  out  of  business. 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     213 

Another  matador,  Padilla,  was  gored  in  the  throat  by  the 
fifth  bull  and  for  a  time  it  was  thought  that  he  was  injured 
mortally.  The  third  matador  was  scraped  up  the  side  by 
the  last  bull  as  the  death  thrust  was  delivered,  and  Lar- 
gartijillo  chico,  the  young  Largartijillo,  just  as  we  say 
Young  Corbett,  came  near  going  to  dwell  with  his  fathers 
eternally. 

Oh,  yes,  there  was  lots  of  excitement  and  agility  and  skill 
and  all  that,  but  why  describe  a  bullfight  as  a  bullfight? 
No  story  is  older.  What  was  peculiar  about  this  fight  was 
the  presence  of  3,000  American  sailors.  That's  a  different 
story.  You  want  to  know  how  Jack  saw  it  and  what  he 
said  and  thought  and  did.  You  can  see  bullfights  any 
time  you  want  to  pay  for  them;  you  can't  see  American 
bluejackets  at  such  a  spectacle  as  the  chief  guests  of  a 
Government,  and  that's  what  made  this  fight  tremendously 
interesting. 

Well,  this  one  was  held  in  the  famous  ring  almost  as  old 
as  Lima.  Six  bulls  from  the  famous  stock  of  Rinconada 
de  Mala,  the  property  of  Dr.  Don  Jesus  de  Asin,  had  been 
provided.  They  were  the  fightiest  bulls  in  all  Peru ;  and  to 
make  sure  that  they  would  do  their  best  they  had  been 
teased  privately  beforehand.  The  fight,  as  the  handbills 
announced,  was  a  "  grand  gala,"  one  given  "  in  honor  of 
the  North  American  squadron  to  celebrate  its  happy  arrival 
at  the  port  of  Callao." 

Well,  the  hospitality  of  the  Government  went  further, 
for  it  named  the  bulls  in  honor  of  the  fleet.  The  first  bull 
was  "  the  gallant  Alfred,  in  honor  of  Admiral  Evans  "  ; 
the  second,  "  the  heroic  Ranger,  in  honor  of  Admiral 
Thomas  " ;  the  third,  "  the  Brave  Teddy,  in  honor  of  Ad- 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

miral  Emory  " ;  the  fourth,  "  the  Shufly,  in  honor  of  Ad- 
miral Sperry  " ;  the  fifth,  "  Ban j  o,  in  honor  of  the  officers 
of  the  navy  " ;  the  sixth,  "  Yankee  Doodle,  in  honor  of  the 
sailors."  Could  hospitality  go  further  than  that? 

About  175  men  from  each  ship  and  all  the  officers  of  the 
fleet  were  invited.  The  sailors  filled  two-thirds  of  the  arena 
and  the  officers  and  the  high  society  of  Lima  filled  the  boxes. 
All  had  assembled  on  time,  and  then  came  the  President  to 
sit  in  the  box  directly  opposite  that  of  the  officers  of  the 
municipality,  with  chairs  of  red  plush  for  the  box  and  a 
dais  for  the  President,  who  was  in  evening  dress.  The 
American  Admirals  and  Captains  were  in  that  grand  box. 
The  Peruvian  band  played  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  " 
and  the  bluejackets  stood  at  attention  and  then  all  hands 
cheered.  When  the  President  came  and  the  Peruvian 
national  hymn  was  played,  the  bluejackets  gave  three  rous- 
ing cheers  for  Pardo  and  Peru.  Then  all  was  ready  for 
business.  The  key  was  tossed  into  the  ring  for  the  parade 
of  the  fighters,  capeadores,  banderilleros,  matadors,  the  rig 
to  pull  the  dead  bulls  out,  and  all  that. 

The  Americans  were  all  intense.  The  fighters  took  their 
stations,  the  Mayor  gave  the  word,  a  bugle  blew,  a  door 
was  opened  and  a  great  brown  and  black  bull  with  horns, 
as  one  of  the  local  newspapers  described  them,  "  like  the 
spires  of  a  steeple,"  bounded  into  the  ring,  took  one  look 
around  and  dashed  madly  after  an  aged  horseman  riding 
a  beautiful  iron  gray  pony  and  flaunting  a  red  cape  over 
his  mount's  flanks.  There  were  two  of  these  horsemen  and 
the  exhibition  they  gave  of  fine  riding  would  have  put  the 
best  cowboy  or  rough  rider  to  shame.  The  man  the  bull 
put  after  was  more  than  eighty  years  old  and  the  way  he 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     215 

twisted  his  pony  here  and  there  and  just  escaped  the  lunges 
of  that  bull,  turning  sharp  angles,  pulling  up  short,  mak- 
ing his  horse  fairly  leap  out  of  the  way,  dodging  this  way 
and  that  until  the  bull  was  astonished  elicited  roars  of  ap- 
plause from  the  bluejackets.  They  liked  that  part.  Then 
a  younger  man  took  up  the  same  work.  He  was  even 
more  skilful.  Bullfighting  was  fine  so  far. 

But  let  Bill  Watkins,  bos'n's  mate,  be  heard  from. 
Bill,  you  see,  had  been  to  these  things  before  in  his  gyra- 
tions round  the  world,  now  having  five  stripes  on  his  sleeve. 
Bill  gathered  a  group  of  younsters  about  him  and  in- 
vited the  Sun  man  to  come  along  to  have  a  bullfight  "  ex- 
plained proper." 

"You  see,"  said  Bill,  "these  Spiggoties  (a  sailor  term 
applied  to  Latin  Americans  because  they  say  *  Me  no  spig- 
goty  English')  think  they  know  all  about  bullfights. 
They  doesn't,  to  use  good  grammar.  You  want  to  look 
at  'em  from  the  standp'int  o'  seamanship  an'  gunn'ry. 
There's  where  you  get  the  real  benefit.  Why,  many  a 
middy  c'n  learn  more  'bout  seamanship  an'  gunn'ry  here 
than  he  kin  from  two  years  on  a  bridge.  I  tell  ye  these 
bullfights  oughter  be  in  the  kricklum,  or  whatever  they  call 
it,  at  Annapolis." 

Just  then  a  bugle  blew  telling  the  mounted  cape  men  to 
give  way  to  those  on  foot.  Bonarillo,  the  matador,  ad- 
vanced with  a  purple  lined  cape  "  to  feel  the  bull  out." 
He  waved  the  garment  gracefully  from  side  to  side.  The 
bull  dashed  at  him.  Bonarillo's  foot  caught  in  the  corner 
of  the  cape,  the  bull  gathered  him  on  his  horns  and  agilely 
tossed  him  over  one  shoulder  and  then  dashed  away  after 
another  capeador.  Bonarillo  tried  to  get  up,  but  couldn't. 


216  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Soon  he  was  carried  out  of  the  ring.  Glory  was  not  to 
be  his  that  day.  Bill  took  it  all  in  and  explained : 

"  There  ye  go !  Ye  see,  that  matador  ought  ter  re- 
membered that  he  was  in  shoal  water.  He  thought  he 
c'd  navigate  'thout  takin'  soundin's  or  gettin'  bearin's. 
That  bull  had  his  range  all  right,  but  his  deflection  was 
poor.  When  the  bull  got  'im  under  the  leg  with  his  horn 
that  shot  sure  counted.  The  bull  hoisted  'im  all  right, 
but  the  man  who  was  tendin'  the  fall  let  'im  go  by  the  run 
when  it  came  to  lowerin'  away.  There,  the  wreckin'  tugs 
have  got  'im !  Now  they're  carryin'  'm  'behind  the  break- 
water. It's  the  drydock  for  cocky  Bonarillo,  all  right. 
Mighty  poor  seamanship  and  just  ordinary  gunn'ry  fer 
the  bull !  You  see,  'twas  only  a  pot  shot." 

Then  the  cape  men  began  to  wave  their  emblems  at  the 
bull.  Now  and  then  the  bull  would  catch  one  of  the  capes 
in  his  horns  and  toss  it  to  the  ground  and  trample  on  it. 
The  men  had  to  run  for  the  shelters  often.  The  bull  was 
fresh.  Bill  explained: 

"  Ye  mustn't  take  too  many  chances  in  a  fresh  breeze. 
There,  ye  see,  that  fellow's  let  his  lower  stu'nsail  get  car- 
ried away.  He  didn't  shorten  sail  soon  enough.  The  man 
at  the  wheel  let  'er  luff  too  soon,  and  come  to  against  the 
helm.  Don't  never  belay  no  sheet !  " 

Then  came  the  signal  for  the  banderilleros  to  sink  their 
darts  in  the  shoulders  of  the  bull.  One  of  them  would 
catch  the  bull's  attention  and  they  would  rush  toward 
each  other.  The  banderillero  would  change  his  course 
after  the  bull  got  under  way  and  by  just  grazing  his  horns 
would  plant  the  darts  in  his  shoulders.  The  first  man  got 
rousing  cheers.  From  his  darts  two  flags  unfurled.  One 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     217 

was  that  of  Peru  and  the  other  that  of  the  United  States. 
It  was  supposed  to  be  a  pretty  compliment  to  the  Amer- 
icans. Bill  explained  how  the  banderillero  did  it : 

"  Say,  did  y'  see  that  feller?  He  stands  close  hauled 
right  up  to  the  weather  mark,  then  he  bears  up  and  passes 
to  leeward,  with  his  lee  rail  awash.  He's  been  whaling 
all  right  —  we  was  eighteen  months  in  the  Mozambique 
once,  when  I  was  whaling  out  of  New  Bedford,  and  our 
iron  man  always  took  his  fish  like  him.  Ye  see,  ye  stands 
yer  course  right  up  to  the  animal,  then  give  a  rank  sheer, 
heave,  and  let  him  go  by  !  " 

The  bull  was  now  very  tired.  Padillo,  the  second 
matador,  came  out,  bowed  to  the  authorities  and  asked  the 
President's  permission  to  kill  the  bull.  He  got  it  and  it 
was  up  to  him  to  do  it.  He  waved  his  bright  red  cape, 
sheltering  his  sword,  repeatedly  in  front  of  the  bull,  step- 
ping aside  just  in  time  to  escape  the  horns.  The  bull  was 
dazed.  Then  Padillo  stood  about  ten  feet  away,  poised 
his  sword  to  take  aim  and  rushed  on  the  bull.  The  sword 
did  not  hit  the  fatal  spot.  The  thrust  was  a  failure. 
Bill  said : 

"  Ah  —  he's  a  bum  pointer !  A  guy  what's  been  in 
training  as  long  as  he  has  and  ain't  got  no  better  sense 
than  to  fire  before  he's  steady  on  don't  deserve  to  hold  the 
rate.  Mighty  poor  gunn'ry  that !  " 

Again  the  matador  failed.  The  sword  went  in  deep. 
Muscular  contraction,  which  had  forced  the  first  sword  out, 
failed  to  move  this  one  and  a  capeador  threw  his  cloak 
over  the  weapon  deftly  and  drew  it  out.  Again  there 
was  a  failure  to  kill,  but  the  bull  was  almost  exhausted. 
He  sank  to  .his  knees,  got  up  and  made  one  more  lunge  at 


218  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

Padillo,  who  then  sank  the  sword  to  the  hilt  in  the  proper 
place  and  all  was  over.  There  were  cheers,  but  Padillo 
hadn't  done  well.  Bill  said: 

"  Say's  he's  a  bum  reefer  and  a  yardarm  f urler.  I'll 
bet  that  guy's  a  trimmer.  Ye  can  tell  by  the  cut  of  his 
jib  that  he's  in  everybody's  mess  and  nobody's  watch. 
He's  jack  outside  the  lift  when  the  liberty  party's  called 
away,  but  sick  bay  for  him  when  the  coal  comes  along- 
side." 

The  second  bull,  Ranger,  gave  the  horsemen  plenty  to 
do.  He  soon  had  the  aged  horseman  in  difficulty.  Time 
and  again  the  horseman,  looking  over  his  shoulder, 
flaunted  his  cape  this  way  and  that;  but  it  was  evident 
that  the  bull  could  not  be  escaped  easily.  All  the  fighters 
became  nervous.  At  last  the  bull  made  a  thrust  that 
caught  the  beautiful  iron  gray  pony  in  the  flank  with  a 
deep  wound.  The  cape  men  interfered  at  once  and  the 
horseman  rode  away  to  safety.  Bill  had  this  to  say : 

"  There,  that  rider  went  wrong !  The  bull  was  after 
him  under  full  sail  and  was  yawin'  'round  three  or  four 
p'ints  each  side  o'  the  course  and  rollin'  and  pitchin'  some- 
thin'  awful.  That  man  on  the  horse,  the  picalilly,  or 
whatever  ye  call  'im,  tried  to  give  the  bull  the  right  o'  way, 
although,  bein'  close  hauled,  he  should  a-held  his  weather 
helm  on  'im.  However,  not  obeyin'  the  rules  o'  the  road, 
he  starts  to  give  way,  but  at  the  critical  moment  the  bull 
makes  a  yaw  to  port,  rams  the  horse  in  the  starboard  quar- 
ter. The  picalilly  man  tops  his  boom,  stands  to  the  east- 
ward and  tries  to  put  his  collision  mat  over.  He  should 
a-put  his  helm  over  the  other  way.  Poor  work,  poor 
work!" 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     219 

So  the  fight  went  on.  Padillo  killed  another  bull,  but 
he  had  three  failures  at  thrusts  before  the  beast  sank  down 
and  died.  There  were  hisses  for  him,  and  some  of  the 
bluejackets  shouted: 

"  Take  him  out  and  put  him  in  a  minor  league ! " 

Lagartijillo  chico  killed  the  third  bull  and  did  no  better 
work.  There  was  a  diversion  in  this  fight.  A  banderillero 
sat  on  a  chair  and  made  the  bull  charge  at  him.  The 
banderillero  rose  just  as  the  bull  reached  him,  planted  his 
darts  in  the  animal's  shoulders  and  leaped  to  one  side.  It 
was  a  beautiful  piece  of  work,  and  the  bluejackets  roared 
their  applause.  Bill  approved  the  seamanship  and  said: 

"  That  man  on  the  chair  apparently  didn't  have  no 
more  chance  than  an  ice  skatin'  rink  in  Zanzibar,  not  to 
mention  a  hotter  place,  usin'  a  shorter  and  uglier  word. 
He  shifted  his  moorin's  jest  in  time.  It  was  too  late  to 
repel  boarders,  but  he  got  away.  Fine  seamanship  for 
the  man!  Poor  work  by  the  bull!  He  ran  down  the 
moorin'  buoy,  that  was  all,  and  splintered  it  all  fell  and 
gone.  Ye  see  the  man  got  the  right  to  choose  position 
and  fire  at  will.  That's  a  great  thing.  Jest  remember 
that  lesson." 

In  the  same  fight  one  of  the  men  took  a  long  pole,  ran 
straight  at  the  bull,  planted  the  pole  directly  in  front  of 
the  animal  and  vaulted  clear  over  him,  coming  down  just 
as  the  bull  hit  the  pole.  In  his  descent  the  man  seized 
the  bull's  tail  and  gave  it  a  twist.  Bill  was  delighted. 

"  Lay  aft  to  the  braces !  Weather  main  and  lee  crojic 
braces!  Hard  down  there!  Lay  yer  maintops'l  to  the 
mast.  No !  by  — !  Hard  down !  He's  going  to  wear 
sharp  'round  and  bring  up  to  windward  of  him !  Say,  that 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

feller's  a  sailor  all  right  —  every  hair  a  rope  yarn,  every 
finger  a  fishhook  and  every  drop  of  blood  a  drop  of  tar." 

Padillo  killed  the  fourth  bull  and  made  his  usual  num- 
ber of  failures.  The  fifth  bull,  Banjo,  aroused  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  crowd.  He  fought  magnificently.  He 
would  not  be  tired  out.  It  came  time  to  kill  him.  Padillo 
wrent  after  him  with  his  cape  and  the  bull  deftly  caught 
him,  lifted  him  in  the  air,  and  he  fell  beside  Banjo  and 
rolled  under  the  animal.  Down  went  the  horns  to  gore 
him.  The  cape  men  fluttered  all  around.  Padillo  curled 
himself  up  in  a  ball.  The  bull  stepped  this  way  and  that 
and  then  charged  off  after  a  cape  man,  leaving  Padillo 
unharmed  but  his  nerve  gone.  He  went  after  the  bull 
again.  He  was  deathly  pale  about  the  mouth.  One  of 
his  legs  trembled  violently.  Deathlike  stillness  was  over 
the  ring. 

Soon  the  bull  began  to  tear  his  cape  from  his  hands,  a 
disgrace.  Once,  twice,  three  times  the  bull  did  this.  The 
Peruvians  were  enraged.  They  cried  "  Shame !  "  Padil- 
lo's  father,  who  was  in  the  ring,  tried  to  explain  that  it 
was  a  bad  bull  and  invited  the  critics  to  come  and  try  it 
themselves.  Almost  beside  himself,  Padillo  made  three 
rushes  at  the  bull  without  taking  proper  aim,  in  the  hope 
of  catching  the  animal  unawares  and  giving  him  a  death 
thrust.  The  fourth  time  he  gave  the  thrust. 

The  bull  saw  him  coming,  did  not  lower  his  head,  and 
just  as  Padillo  placed  his  sword  in  the  neck  the  bull  raised 
his  head,  caught  Padillo  on  his  horns,  one  of  them  pene- 
trating under  the  chin  and  entering  the  mouth  cavity.  A 
cry  of  horror  went  up.  Padillo  fell  but  got  up  quickly, 
and  with  a  look  of  mighty  disgust  saw  the  bull  reel  away. 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     221 

Then,  catching  himself  by  the  throat  and  staggering  for- 
ward Padillo  ran  to  the  enclosure  from  which  the  bull  had 
entered,  a  distance  of  about  twenty  feet,  the  blood  stream- 
ing from  his  wound.  He  dropped  just  inside  the  en- 
closure and  word  was  passed  around  that  bull  and  man 
had  each  given  the  other  the  death  thrust.  Tragedy  could 
not  have  been  more  complete  had  it  been  true,  but  Padillo 
went  to  a  hospital  and  didn't  die.  There  were  thousands 
of  Americans  who  said  they  really  did  feel  a  little  sorry 
for  the  bull.  Bill  Watkins  explained  the  poor  gunn'ry 
of  Padillo. 

"  Up  in  the  air !  Up  in  the  air !  Come  down  out  of 
the  balloon !  Say,  he's  like  a  landsman  at  a  13-inch  gun 
with  a  misfire  —  don't  know  what  to  do  with  it  himself 
and  can't  give  it  away.  Take  him  out  of  the  hood !  Give 
him  an  air  gun !  Let  him  blow  soap  bubbles !  Don't  fire 
until  the  gun's  loaded,  sonny !  There,  the  operating  lever 
caught  him  in  the  mush !  Yer  better  keep  out  of  the  line 
of  fire  next  time !  " 

The  last  bull  was  killed  by  Lagartijillo.  It  was  the 
same  story,  except  that  just  as  the  matador  gave  the 
deathblow  the  bull  hooked  him  along  his  right  side  and 
tore  his  clothes.  He  had  a  narrow  escape.  His  wounds 
were  only  bruises.  As  the  bull  sank  down  dying  fully  200 
bluejackets  jumped  into  the  ring  to  follow  the  example  of 
two  who  earlier  in  the  fight  had  leaped  in  and  secured 
the  darts  in  an  animal's  neck  for  moment oes.  They 
swarmed  at  Yankee  Doodle.  He  saw  them  coming  and  as 
they  seized  the  darts  rose  to  his  feet  and  tried  to  lunge  at 
some  of  them.  It  was  too  much  and  he  fell  as  the  men 
began  to  scatter  and  died  at  once.  Bill  said: 


222  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Fine  work !  He  tried  to  repel  boarders,  and  he  done 
it,  too !  If  yer  ship's  sinldn'  and  it's  yer  last  gasp  don't 
never  fergit  to  repel  boarders.  Ye  kin  go  to  glory  satis- 
fied then.  They  ought  ter  named  that  bull  Cumberland." 

Bill  explained  the  day's  events : 

"  Ye  see,  the  bull  ain't  got  no  chance  after  his  ammuni- 
tion is  gone.  He  was  firm'  his  last  3-inch  guns  when  he 
got  that  Padillo  feller.  It's  a  case  o'  destroyers  and  gun- 
boats fightin'  an  unarmored  cruiser  with  a  short  supply  o' 
ammunition.  When  that  gives  out  the  cruiser  is  bound  to 
go.  Some  o'  the  destroyers  gets  put  out,  as  Bonarillo 
and  Padillo  did,  but  there's  no  use  in  goin'  t'  sea  unless 
ye  got  full  magazines  and  ain't  cut  off  from  your  sup- 
plies. Oh,  yes,  there's  lots  o'  things  to  learn  from  these 
bullfights ! " 

Then  Bill  shifted  his  quid  and  joined  the  crowd  going 
out.  The  bluejackets  didn't  care  much  for  the  sport. 
Some  of  them  left  after  the  third  fight  and  there  was  a 
steady  stream  from  the  ring  afterward.  Those  who  re- 
mained had  this  one  comment: 

"  One  feller  got  it  in  the  neck  —  got  the  hook,  all 
right!" 

The  writer  holds  no  brief  for  the  defence  of  bull  fight- 
ing, but  he  wishes  to  say  that  the  exhibition,  with  the 
goring  of  horses  left  out,  was  no  more  disgusting  than  a 
prize  fight  between  two  bruisers.  Any  contest  that  has 
the  letting  of  blood  as  its  chief  feature  may,  be  called 
sport  if  its  devotees  so  choose.  This  fight  was  no  more 
brutal  than  shooting  at  bears  from  a  safe  distance  and 
was  not  half  so  cruel  as  wounding  a  deer  and  allowing  it 
to  drag  itself  away  and  die  in  suffering.  The  bulls  were 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     223 

in  pain  from  the  darts  and  showed  it  from  time  to  time, 
but  in  their  rage  forgot  the  pain  after  an  instant  or  two. 
Giving  them  a  thrust  in  the  heart  was  no  more  cruel  in  the 
way  of  killing  than  it  is  to  hang  up  a  turkey  or  a  chicken, 
cut  its  throat  and  let  it  bleed  to  death. 

Death  came  almost  in  an  instant  to  the  bulls.  The 
fighters  risked  their  lives  dozens  of  times.  The  bull  had 
a  fair  show  at  them.  Their  quick  movements,  hairbreadth 
escapes,  showed  that  nerve  and  rare  skill  were  required. 
Compared  with  prize  fighting  where  two  sluggers  cover 
themselves  with  blood,  and  when  one  is  staggering  about 
from  exhaustion  the  other  gives  him  a  blow  that  makes 
him  unconscious  —  well,  the  writer  says  unhesitatingly  that 
he  prefers  the  Peruvian  bull  fight.  It  all  depends,  you 
see,  upon  the  point  of  view. 

Only  a  limited  party  could  be  the  guests  of  the  Govern- 
ment on  the  Oroya  Railroad  trip.  It  was  known  as  the 
official  party.  An  unofficial  party  with  an  engine  and  a 
passenger  car  followed.  This  Oroya  Railroad  was  started 
by  Henry  Meiggs,  the  defaulting  partner  of  Ralston  in 
California  who  fled  to  Chile,  got  rich  and  paid  up  his 
debts.  In  1869  he  went  to  Peru  and  started  this  railroad. 

Peru  had  money  to  spend  then.  Meiggs  finished  the 
road  up  the  mountains  as  far  as  Chicla  in  1876,  and  then 
the  money  gave  out.  More  than  $26,000,000  had  been 
spent  going  eighty-eight  miles.  Later  the  Peruvian 
Corporation  finished  the  road  to  Oroya,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Andes,  and  connections  have  been  made  with  the 
road  to  the  famous  Cerro  de  Pasco  mines,  owned  by  Mr. 
Haggin  and  other  American  millionaires.  Two  other 
branches  have  been  built  and  ultimately  it  is  planned  to 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

extend  the  road  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Amazon  in  Peru, 
so  as  to  give  the  country  on  the  east  of  the  Andes  an 
outlet  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean  for  its  products. 

The  highest  place  on  the  line  is  Galera  tunnel,  under 
Mount  Meiggs.  It  is  15,665  feet  high.  The  distance  is 
106  miles  from  Callao.  There  is  not  an  inch  of  down 
grade  in  the  climb.  There  are  no  less  than  fifty-seven 
tunnels.  Bridges  over  chasms  and  foaming  cascades  and 
the  River  Rimac,  whose  course  the  road  follows,  are  num- 
bered by  the  score.  For  forty-seven  miles  it  is  a  steady 
climb  beside  the  Rimac  torrent  in  a  desolate  country,  with 
the  mountains  red  and  bare.  There  is  no  rainfall  in  that 
district. 

Then  you  come  to  where  the  river  is  hemmed  in  by 
mountain  gorges,  and  you  have  to  climb  by  means  of 
switchbacks.  Up  you  go,  tilting  this  way  and  that,  be- 
yond two  layers  of  clouds.  The  sides  of  the  mountains 
become  green.  You  are  now  in  the  land  of  the  ancient 
Incas.  Abandoned  terraces  that  lose  themselves  in  the 
clouds  flank  scores  of  mountain  sides.  The  Incas  raised 
their  products  there  by  some  system  of  irrigation. 

Fine  specimens  of  trees  appear,  fruit  orchards  with 
chirimoyas,  palta,  nispero  and  pacay,  and  willow  and  pep- 
per trees  in  abundance.  The  flowers  begin  to  greet  you, 
the  heliotrope,  solanaceas,  spurge  and  cacti  all  around. 
Back  and  forth  you  seesaw  with  massive,  towering  moun- 
tains above  you  and  several  lines  of  tracks  far  below  you. 
Now  and  then  you  come  upon  a  little  town  thousands  of 
feet  in  the  air. 

Then  you  reach  a  place  where  a  smelter  sends  its  blasts 
up  in  the  skies,  and  you  begin  to  see  what  supports  this 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     225 

road.  A  footpath  or  trail  climbs  the  ravines,  and  you  see 
scores  of  llamas  bearing  their  burdens  and  driven  by  the 
native  Indians.  A  hundred  cascades,  some  of  them  with 
the  beauty  of  Yosemite's  Bridal  Veil  leap  with  their  spray 
down  the  sheer  cliffs.  The  lights  and  shadows  paint  the 
bare  rocks  delicate  hues,  such  as  you  cannot  see  even  in  a 
sunset  glow. 

You  come  to  the  famous  Verrugas  bridge,  575  feet  long 
and  225  feet  high,  in  its  day  the  greatest  feat  of  railroad 
engineering  ever  known.  You  are  now  in  a  belt  twelve 
miles  long  where  no  tourist  can  live,  for  there  the  Ver- 
rugas fever  rages.  It  is  one  of  those  strange  local  diseases 
found  occasionally  in  the  world  peculiar  to  a  small  zone 
and  baffling  to  medical  science. 

You  see  crucifixes  all  along  the  route.  Still  you  climb 
and  climb  and  you  see  ragged  edges  of  mountains  above 
you  which  you  know  you  will  surmount.  You  come  to  a 
dead  stop  against  the  face  of  a  mountain  thousands  of  feet 
high.  You  back  away  up  its  side,  and  little  by  little,  twist- 
ing and  turning  you  lift  yourself  above  another  cloud 
layer. 

The  air  gets  cold,  a  dash  of  rain  comes  as  you  pass 
through  the  clouds.  At  10,000  feet  high  a  sharp  pain 
runs  through  your  ears.  You  take  several  long  gasps  of 
breath  and  it  passes  away.  A  slight  headache  comes  at 
12,000  feet.  It  passes  away  and  finally  you  reach  the 
tunnel  and  emerge  on  the  other  side  of  the  Andes  with 
the  snow  all  about  you  and  you  throw  a  few  snowballs  and 
start  back.  Your  head  begins  to  feel  strange.  At  18,000 
feet  it  aches  violently.  The  ache  is  as  near  like  the  morn- 
ing-after headache  as  can  be.  In  the  official  party  not 


226  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

one  person  escaped  it.  Half  a  dozen  strong  men  became 
sick  at  the  stomach  and  had  violent  attacks  of  vomiting. 
The  mountain  sickness  was  on.  Other  men  were  laid  out 
in  the  cars  prostrate. 

At  this  stage  came  a  complication.  Heavy  rains  had 
been  falling  below  and  word  was  telegraphed  that  there 
were  four  washouts  and  the  party  would  have  to  stay  in 
the  mountains  all  night.  The  faces  of  the  railroad  offi- 
cials became  grave.  To  keep  that  party  at  the  height  of 
13,000  feet  all  night  might  prove  almost  fatal  to  some. 
It  was  this  trip  which  brought  on  the  illness  that  ulti- 
mately killed  the  late  Dr.  Nicholas  Senn. 

Word  was  sent  that  by  care  the  train  might  descend  as 
far  as  10,000  feet.  A  handcar  was  sent  on  as  a  pilot  and 
in  the  darkness  and  snow  that  train  was  piloted  down  those 
mountain  declivities,  where  the  least  slip  of  the  earth  would 
have  sent  it  hurtling  down  cliffs  thousands  of  feet.  The 
pace  was  only  five  miles  an  hour. 

The  sickness  did  not  diminish  until  at  11  o'clock  at 
night  Tamboraque  was  reached,  where  the  unofficial  party 
of  officers  which  had  not  gone  up  the  full  height  was 
stalled.  There  was  one  inn  with  four  beds  and  ninety 
men  to  occupy  them.  The  unofficial  party  was  in  full 
possession.  They  had  organized  the  Society  of  the  Llama, 
Landslide  Chapter.  They  had  a  merry  night.  The  offi- 
cial party,  sick,  worn  out,  turned  in  to  sleep  in  car  seats. 
The  next  morning  by  walking  around  landslides  and  meet- 
ing trains  in  the  gaps  the  party  was  got  down  to  Callao. 
Several  did  not  get  over  the  mountain  illness  for  three 
days.  It  was  a  magnificent  trip  in  the  grandest  scenery 


PERU'S  WARM-HEARTED  GREETING     227 

in  the  world,  but  mountain  sickness,  all  concurred,   was 
worse  than  seasickness. 

By  way  of  return  entertainment  by  the  fleet  a  dinner 
was  given  to  President  Pardo  on  the  Connecticut,  and  then 
a  fleet  reception  was  held  on  the  same  ship  the  day  before 
sailing.  This  morning  President  Pardo  boarded  the  Pe- 
ruvian cruiser  Almirante  Grau  and  the  fleet  thundered  out 
twenty-one  guns  on  each  ship  in  unison.  The  Grau 
passed  out  to  sea  and  orders  were  signalled  from  the  flag- 
ship to  get  under  way.  Then  the  fleet  passed  by  President 
Pardo  in  the  best  of  style,  each  ship  firing  a  salute  as  it 
went  by.  It  made  a  fine  spectacle.  The  honors  were 
the  same  as  paid  to  President  Roosevelt  in  Hampton 
Roads,  President  Penna  at  Rio  and  President  Montt  at  Val- 
paraiso. 

President  Pardo  sent  his  thanks  by  wireless  and  got  a 
fine  reply  of  appreciation  from  Admiral  Evans,  and  it  was 
good-by  to  Peru,  with  the  sounds  of  cheers  coming  over 
the  water  and  the  sight  of  fluttering  handkerchiefs  from 
thousands ;  the  last  salute. 

True  it  was  Peru  had  remembered,  and  those  who  had 
called  on  Dr.  Polo,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  began 
to  realize  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  in  his  office  there 
hangs  just  one  picture.  It  is  the  portrait  of  an  American 
statesman  —  James  G.  Elaine. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA  BAY 

High  Tension  on  the  Fleet  — Effect  of  Target  Shooting  on  Man-o'- 
War  Crews  —  Splendid  Advantages  of  Magdalena  Bay  —  Making 
the  Targets  and  Clearing  for  Action  —  Why  They  Are  All  Nervous. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  Battle  Fleet, 

MAGDALENA  BAY,  March  22. 

"W  If  THEN  Admiral  Evans's  fleet  arrived  in  Magda- 
^/  ^/     lena  two  days  ahead  of  schedule  time  there  was 
undoubtedly  a  sense  of  relief  in  official  circles 
in  Washington  over  what  was  practically  the  termination 
of  the  long  cruise  to  the  Pacific,  and  also  one  of  gratifica- 
tion because  the  ships,  as  Admiral  Evans  notified  the  Navy 
Department,  were  in  better  condition  than  when  they  left 
Hampton  Roads  and  ready  for  any  duty  within  an  hour's 
notice. 

On  the  fleet  there  was  no  sense  of  relief  over  the  safe 
and  prompt  arrival.  That  was  taken  as  a  mere  matter  of 
course.  It  is  true  every  one  was  a  little  proud  over  the 
performance  of  the  fleet  and  glad  that  it  had  shaken  itself 
into  a  homogeneous  unit  and  was  in  first  class  fighting 
condition,  not  as  separate  battleships  but  as  a  fleet.  In 
the  matter  of  cruising  the  fleet  at  last  was  as  one  ship  and 
lots  of  useful  things  had  been  learned. 

On  the  ships  the  arrival  was  marked  by  just  the  oppo- 

228 


Copyright  by  A.   Dujtont 

Rear  Admiral   Robley  D.  Evans 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA 

site  feeling  from  relief  and  gratification.  The  officers  and 
men  frankly  were  not  in  a  placid  state  of  mind.  All  were 
under  an  intense  tension.  They  were  what  might  be  called 
wrought  up.  What,  you  say,  American  men-o'-wars  men 
in  a  nervous  condition  —  one  that  actually  showed  itself 
in  their  work  and  their  play?  No,  not  in  their  play,  for 
there  wasn't  any.  Well,  but  sea  fighters  nervous?  Not  a 
mother's  son  of  them  would  admit  such  a  thing.  Prepos- 
terous !  Men  with  nerves  on  warships  ?  Well,  perhaps  not 
nerves  as  the  ordinary  person  speaks  of  these  anatomical 
cutups,  but  certainly  something  was  the  matter  with  all 
hands.  Evidences  of  what  the  cub  reporter  would  call  sup- 
pressed excitement  were  plenty  everywhere  on  every  ship. 

What  was  it  all  about?  What  was  the  matter?  The 
answer  is  very  simple  and  short: 

The  time  to  begin  shooting  had  come  —  that  was  all. 

But  why  get  worked  up  over  that,  you  ask?  Shooting 
is  what  a  navy  is  for.  Of  course ;  and  in  the  old  days  real 
shooting  was  done  only  in  time  of  war.  The  navy  no 
longer  waits  for  war  to  learn  how  to  shoot.  Twice  a  year 
it  has  exhaustive  target  practice  —  once  for  what  is  called 
record  and  once  for  battle  practice. 

Record  practice  is  at  a  target  at  exactly  a  known  dis- 
tance. Every  gun  on  every  ship  is  fired  individually  at 
that  target.  Battle  practice  is  at  a  target  that  simulates 
in  size  and  distance  the  ship  of  an  enemy.  All  the  guns 
of  the  ship  that  reach  that  range  are  fired  apparently 
helter-skelter  for  a  given  number  of  minutes.  The  range 
in  that  case  has  to  be  found  out. 

Record  practice  is  held  to  qualify  gun  pointers,  or,  as 
the  English  call  it,  gun  layers.  Its  purpose  is  to  find  out 


230  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  best  shooters  in  the  ship  and  to  give  them  practice. 
Battle  practice  is  to  give  these  gun  pointers  an  opportunity 
of  displaying  their  skill  in  what  would  seem  to  be  slam- 
bang  work,  but  what  is  really  the  result  of  months,  and 
even  years,  of  scientific  training  of  the  eye  and  hand  and 
of  the  mind  in  knowing  just  when  to  pull  a  trigger  or 
snap  a  lanyard  at  exactly  the  right  fraction  of  a  second. 

You  see,  the  secret  of  success  in  fighting  on  the  sea,  as  it 
is  practically  in  every  kind  of  fighting,  lies  after  all  in 
what  the  Western  man  calls  "  getting  the  drop  on  the 
other  fellow."  The  way  to  get  that  drop  on  warships 
is  to  find  out  the  men  who  can  shoot  straightest  and 
fastest  and  can  keep  their  nerve,  and  then  be  prepared  to 
turn  'em  loose  when  war  comes.  The  target  practice  here 
has  been  of  that  kind,  to  pick  out  and  train  gun  pointers. 
It  was  record  practice  exclusively. 

So  far  as  this  fleet  is  concerned  this  cruise  was  chiefly 
for  this  purpose.  Aside  from  mere  cruising  and  getting 
shaken  down  the  officers  and  men  had  their  minds  and  their 
energies  centred  on  shooting  guns.  No  matter  what  was 
the  reason  why  the  fleet  was  sent  to  the  Pacific,  the  officers 
and  men  passed  it  by  as  something  that  concerned  them 
only  incidentally.  They  take  their  orders  to  go  here  or 
there  with  simply  passing  interest.  They  obey.  Their 
one  idea,  their  chief  work,  mentally  and  physically,  during 
the  entire  cruise  has  been  to  prepare  for  this  target  shoot- 
ing. To  them  it  was  the  business  end  of  the  cruise. 

Some  people  think  that  the  purpose  of  the  cruise  was  to 
go  calling  internationally,  to  say  "  How  d'y  do  ?  "  and 
fire  salutes,  the  officers  to  be  entertained  with  receptions 
and  dances  and  dinner  speeches  and  the  men  to  have  lib- 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA 

i 
erty  on  shore,  with  a  chance  to  get  a  drink  of  real  red 

"  likker " ;  some  might  say  that  the  purpose  was  to  get 
data  as  to  the  cruising  ability  of  the  fleet ;  some  might  say 
it  was  to  get  the  men  used  to  what  might  be  called  the 
navy  habit;  some  might  say  it  was  to  gain  experience  in 
meeting  problems  of  warship  navigation;  some  might  say 
it  was  for  other  than  strictly  naval  reasons,  to  make  a 
show  of  strength  or  to  satisfy  a  public  clamor  or  advance 
a  political  plan. 

Whatever  ideas  others  may  have  had  about  the  cruise, 
the  officers  and  men  have  had  only  one,  as  a  matter  of 
business  and  daily  toil,  and  that  was  that  the  cruise  would 
have  its  real  naval  culmination  in  target  shooting  in  Mag- 
dalena  Bay.  That  was  what  it  was  for  to  the  men  on  these 
ships,  and  from  the  very  hour  the  ships  said  good-by  at 
Hampton  Roads  every  effort  was  made  to  get  them  in 
fighting  condition  as  a  fleet  entity.  The  target  practice 
was  to  reveal  whether  they  had  done  good  work  in  strictly 
naval  business.  To  the  fleet  the  cruise  was  no  spectacular 
parade  around  a  continent;  it  was  to  prepare  to  shoot  in 
the  finest  naval  shooting  place  in  the  world,  Magdalena 
Bay. 

Every  one  was  glad  to  see  Magdalena  Bay  because  of 
this  tension.  It  is  a  splendid  sheet  of  water,  in  a  general 
way  about  fifteen  miles  long  and  ten  wide,  with  a  narrow 
entrance  and  water  just  deep  enough  for  safe  manoeuvring 
and  good  anchorages  everywhere.  A  line  of  sharp  crested 
hills  shuts  it  in  from  sight  of  the  Pacific.  There  is  only 
one  village  on  it,  consisting  of  about  twenty  dwellings,  and 
no  commerce  in  its  waters.  The  shores  on  the  inside  are 
flat  and  there  is  a  good  horizon.  The  warships  of  thes 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

world  might  find  an  anchorage  here  without  crowding  one 
another.  It  is  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  in  a 
desolate,  barren  region,  and  was  designed  apparently  by 
nature  for  the  very  purpose  of  modern  target  shooting. 

It  seems  a  pity  that  American  statesmanship  years  and 
years  ago  could  not  have  had  the  foresight  to  secure  it, 
when  such  a  course  would  have  been  easy,  for  use  of  the 
navy,  when  a  great  naval  station  could  have  been  built 
up  and  proper  use  of  the  place  for  strategical  purposes 
could  have  been  made  certain.  With  a  naval  station  on 
Puget  Sound,  one  in  San  Francisco  and  this  one  on  Mag- 
dalena  Bay,  the  entire  Pacific  Coast  within  our  immediate 
sphere  of  action  would  have  been  within  our  grasp.  Oh, 
yes ;  it's  a  pity  —  too  bad  —  that  we  do  not  own  Mag- 
dalena  Bay.  Perhaps  an  effort  to  secure  it  would  still  be  a 
most  desirable  field  for  the  exercise  of  statemanship.  One 
feels  like  suggesting  to  Washington  to  get  busy  and  keep 
busy. 

As  soon  as  the  fleet  came  to  anchor  there  were  things 
doing.  On  every  ship  what  is  known  as  bore  sighting  had 
to  be  done.  That  means  that  a  telescope  sight  had  to  be 
inserted  in  the  exact  axis  of  the  bore  of  the  gun  and  the 
sighting  telescopes  had  to  be  so  adjusted  that  they  were  ex- 
actly in  line  with  the  centre  of  the  gun.  It  had  to  be 
proved  scientifically  that  when  the  sights  of  the  gun  were 
exactly  on  a  bullseye  with  their  cross  wires  the  centre  of  the 
gun  was  also  exactly  on  the  same  spot.  Every  sight  on 
every  gun  had  to  be  tested  and  checked  up,  and  it  was 
tedious  work.  But  you  couldn't  shoot  straight  without  it, 
and  it  took  hours  and  hours  of  most  careful  adjustment  to 
make  sure  that  all  was  in  perfect  condition. 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA      233 

Then  came  the  laying  out  of  the  ranges.  This  required 
careful  surveying.  An  equilateral  triangle  had  to  be  laid 
out  for  each  range.  Along  one  side,  the  base,  spar  buoys 
with  flags  on  them  had  to  be  fixed,  and  buoys  fixed  further 
along  at  each  end,  so  as  to  give  a  ship  an  opportunity  of 
getting  on  the  exact  range  in  its  turnings.  At  the  apex 
of  each  triangle  a  great  raft  of  thick  timbers  and  poles  on 
it  for  the  targets  had  to  be  put  in  position.  All  this  took 
time,  but  it  was  surprising  how  quickly  the  work  was  done. 

And  then  the  targets  had  to  be  brought  out.  Now  the 
ship's  crew  had  been  working  on  those  targets  in  spare  mo- 
ments for  several  weeks.  Each  ship  had  less  than  fifty  and 
more  than  twenty-five  of  them  to  make.  The  biggest  tar- 
gets are  for  the  smaller  guns  and  the  smallest  ones  for  the 
larger  guns.  The  size  is  proportional,  as  the  experts  put 
it,  to  "  the  angle  of  fall,"  and  the  size  also  represents,  they 
tell  you,  "  the  mean  error  of  fire  "  of  a  gun.  Well,  the 
angle  of  fall  and  mean  error  of  fire  may  not  convey  a  sat- 
isfactory idea  to  you,  but  you  must  remember  that  the  shot 
of  a  little  gun  goes  to  its  target  in  a  high  curve,  while  the 
shot  of  a  big  one  goes  almost  horizontally.  So  you  can 
see  why  a  little  gun  ought  to  have  the  bigger  target.  It 
curves  more,  has  a  greater  angle  of  fall,  than  a  big  gun 
has.  And  the  mean  error  of  fire  has  to  do  with  what  ex- 
perience has  shown  that  guns  perfectly  pointed  and  fired 
ought  to  do.  They  vary  a  little  in  their  performances  and 
the  target  is  just  large  enough  for  every  shot  to  hit  it,  if 
everything  works  absolutely  perfectly. 

The  making  of  the  targets  is  a  long  job.  Great  rolls  of 
canvas  were  broken  out  of  storerooms  and  cut  into  a  cer- 
tain number  of  strips  of  a  certain  length.  These  strips 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

had  to  be  sewed  together,  and  at  times  certain  compart- 
ments resembled  the  inside  of  a  tailor  shop  with  sewing  ma- 
chines buzzing  and  trimming  and  cutting  going  on.  Then 
the  rough  target  had  to  be  spread  out  and  the  edges  cut 
off  until  there  was  just  margin  enough  to  sew  it  all  around 
to  a  rope  about  an  inch  thick.  It  required  hard  work  with 
stout  needles  and  thick  leather  palms  to  put  the  ropes  on 
all  four  sides. 

Then  came  careful  measurements  for  the  black  lines 
about  two  inches  wide  that  marked  the  targets  into  squares 
and  a  great  square  in  the  centre  for  the  bullseye.  Out 
came  the  paint  pots.  Some  of  the  targets  were  made  black 
with  white  lines  and  white  centres  and  others  were  left  white 
with  black  lines  and  centres.  Then  came  the  battens  to 
which  the  targets  were  nailed  so  as  to  be  stretched  on  the 
poles  of  the  raft.  Ropes  had  to  be  attached  in  certain 
places  for  fastening  the  target  in  the  exact  place  and  at 
the  exact  height.  All  this  work  had  to  be  exact,  for  the 
umpires  measured  every  target  to  see  that  no  ship  got  the 
slightest  advantage. 

The  targets  being  prepared,  the  next  thing  done  on 
every  ship  was  to  clear  for  action.  All  stanchions,  boats, 
ridge  ropes,  chests,  gangways,  everything  movable,  were 
taken  down  and  the  decks  stripped.  Hatches  were  closed 
and  the  ship  was  stripped  for  fighting.  Theoretically 
everything  wooden  and  not  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
fighting  of  the  ship  was  thrown  overboard.  Pictures 
were  removed  from  bulkheads  and  crockery  packed  away  so 
as  to  save  breakage.  So  carefully  was  all  this  packing 
done  on  the  Louisiana  that  all  the  breakage  that  occurred 
when  the  big  guns  were  fired  was  one  water  pitcher  in  a 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA      235 

stateroom  under  the  forward  bridge  and  one  pane  of  glass 
in  the  bridge  storm  shield. 

The  articles  that  were  removed  were  not  really  thrown 
overboard,  but  were  moved  to  out  of  the  way  places  and 
marked  with  a  tag  which  read: 
"  Overboard." 

These  tags  furnished  about  the  only  element  of  fun  in 
the  entire  practice.  A  mischievous  boy,  who  may  have 
been  too  familiar  with  the  ship's  Angora  goat  —  you  know 
goats  have  a  way  of  doing  things  to  persons  when  the  per- 
sons are  leaning  over  sometimes,  and  do  not  expect  any- 
thing unusual  to  happen  —  or  who  didn't  like  the  way  the 
goat  refused  to  eat  tin  cans  occasionally  and  also  spurned 
a  pot  of  nice  fresh  paint,  tied  one  of  the  labels  to  Billy's 
horns.  Billy  thought  it  was  a  decoration  and  if  he  had 
been  a  jackass  instead  of  a  goat  would  have  heehawed  with 
the  rest  of  the  crowd. 

Then  there  was  a  little  rascal  of  a  youngster  who  is  al- 
ways getting  into  trouble  because  of  his  pranks  and  all  too 
often  has  to  be  summoned  to  the  mast  for  his  offences, 
where  he  gets  regularly  penalties  of  from  five  to  ten  hours 
extra  duty  and  grins  as  soon  as  the  Captain's  back  is 
turned.  Something  had  to  be  done  about  him.  A  ship- 
mate stole  up  behind  him  and  fixed  an  overboard  tag  on 
his  back.  For  hours  he  carried  it  about  and  was  surprised 
to  see  that  suddenly  he  had  become  popular,  while  the  rest 
of  the  crew  grinned  and  laughed  and  slapped  their  sides 
just  as  ordinary  folks  do  on  April  fool  day  when  a  sedate 
man  goes  down  the  street  with  a  rag  pinned  to  his  coat  tail. 
But  why  should  they  be  nervous  about  the  shooting? 
Well,  if  for  three  months  you  had  been  working  almost 


236  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

day  and  night  in  the  practice  of  loading  and  firing  guns, 
had  been  lifting,  pushing,  pulling  things  about  to  repre- 
sent great  and  small  projectiles  and  bags  of  powder,  and 
if  you  had  been  drilling  so  as  not  to  make  a  false  step  or 
move  and  had  been  getting  up  team  work  so  as  to  do  your 
work  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  where  fractions  of  sec- 
onds count ;  if  you  had  a  gun  crew  or  were  a  member  of 
one  where  probably  one-half  of  the  men  had  never  heard  a 
big  gun  go  off  before  and  there  was  danger  that  you 
would  go  gun  shy ;  if  for  weeks  and  weeks  you  had  been 
told  to  do  exactly  this  and  that  and  never  to  do  that  and 
this,  and  a  lot  of  other  tremendously  important  things  had 
been  dinned  into  your  ears,  especially  matters  relating  to 
safety,  and  you  realized  that  some  blunder  of  yours  might 
endanger  not  only  yourself  and  your  mates,  but  the  ship 
itself;  if  you  recalled  that  the  navy  gives  a  prize  to  the 
best  crew  on  the  fleet  for  each  kind  of  gun  fired  and  there 
is  also  a  ship's  prize  for  the  best  work  of  these  guns,  and 
that  if  you  did  your  work  well  and  won  out  there  would  be 
from  $20  to  $60,  or  possibly  more,  for  yourself  and  each 
of  your  mates ;  if  you  knew  how  one  gun's  crew  bets  it  will 
beat  its  rival ;  if  you  knew  how  every  man  on  every  ship  is 
intensely  eager  to  get  the  naval  trophy  in  shooting  for  his 
own  ship,  so  that  all  hands  can  put  on  proper  airs  and  say 
in  a  deprecating  way :  "  Of  course  we  were  glad  to  get 
the  trophy,  but  it  was  nothing,  mere  nothing;  why,  we 
could  beat  it  all  to  pieces  in  a  fight,  but  of  course  we  don't 
want  to  brag ;  "  if  you  could  see  these  men  working  over- 
time of  their  own  volition  in  the  Morris  tube  training,  the 
miniature  target  shooting  that  is  practised  daily  on  the 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA      287 

ships  —  you'd  begin  to  realize  how  a  ship  gets  all  wrought 
up  over  this  target  practice. 

The  Captain  naturally  wants  his  ship  to  come  out  first 
when  you  get  down  to  the  real  business  of  a  warship ;  the 
division  officers  want  the  ship  to  win  and  their  own  division 
to  be  first ;  the  gun  crews,  with  money  at  stake  for  them  and 
with  the  great  pride  that  Uncle  Sam's  sailormen  have,  down 
to  the  last  man,  to  excel  in  any  contest,  are  more  eager,  if 
that  were  possible,  than  the  officers  to  get  the  shooting 
record.  The  result  is  that  when  the  great  day  approaches 
every  one  is  as  much  under  a  severe  strain  as  a  trained  uni- 
versity football  team  approaching  the  great  game  of  the 
season.  Team  work  has  been  the  aim  of  the  drills.  To 
pretend  to  be  cool  and  utterly  unconcerned  is  the  little 
game  of  byplay  that  is  going  on. 

As  the  day  comes  on  you  don't  hear  much  levity  about 
the  ship.  The  time  of  the  grouch  is  at  hand.  Why,  even 
the  officers  can  hardly  be  civil  to  one  another,  and  as  for 
the  men  they  get  saying  things  to  one  another  in  their  dis- 
putes and  heat  and  anxiety  that  would  make  a  stranger 
think  they  were  dangerously  near  an  uprising.  The  ord- 
nance officer  loses  all  his  friends  and  the  division  officers 
glare  at  him  and  one  another  as  if  each  felt  sorry  that  the 
earth  in  general  and  the  ship  in  particular  was  encum- 
bered with  such  pitiful  specimens  of  humanity. 

Now  and  then  they  get  to  telling  one  another  what  they 
think  of  things,  not  meaning  a  word  of  it,  and  sometimes  a 
dispute  goes  clear  up  to  the  Captain  for  him  to  decide. 
He  does  decide  it  gravely,  and  perhaps  when  the  disputants 
leave  he  turns  away  and  smiles  as  he  recalls  that  men  are 


288  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

but  children  of  larger  growth,  and  after  all  he's  glad  to  see 
these  things  come  up  because  it  shows  how  hard  and  ear- 
nestly every  one  is  working  and  bending  all  his  energies  to 
be  first.  Be  first !  Be  first !  That's  the  thought  of  every 
one,  and  all  these  bickerings,  sharp-tongued  retorts,  objec- 
tions, suggestions,  sullen  looks  —  yes,  even  drawn  faces  — 
mean  that  every  ounce  of  energy,  of  intensity  that  the  men 
on  the  ship  have  is  being  expended  in  the  task  at  hand. 

When  you  see  all  this  you  can  understand  why  the  men 
of  a  7-inch  gun's  crew,  for  example,  who  think  they  have 
what  they  call  a  look-in  for  the  navy  prize  elect  to  sleep 
beside  their  pet  gun  all  night,  just  as  a  stable  boy  sleeps 
in  the  stall  of  his  great  racer  who  is  to  be  out  the  next  day 
for  the  supreme  contest  of  the  year;  you  can  understand 
why  some  of  the  officers  refuse  to  shave  themselves  until 
target  practice  is  all  over  and  they  begin  to  look  as  if  they 
were  training  to  be  pirates,  bad  and  bold ;  every  naval  hoo- 
doo is  avoided ;  you  can  see  why  the  men  go  over  every  part 
of  the  mechanism  of  the  guns  oiling,  rubbing,  shining, 
testing  parts  until  you  wonder  whether  the  gun  itself  is  not 
in  a  state  of  agitation  and  the  molecules,  which  the  experts 
gravely  assert  are  always  in  a  state  of  motion,  are  not  rac- 
ing back  and  forth  and  saying  contemptuous  things  to  one 
another. 

Why  some  of  these  men  never  allow  themselves  out  of 
sight  of  their  gun  lest  something  may  happen  to  it. 
They  pat  the  guns  with  their  hands  and  whisper  pet  names 
to  them,  and  tell  them  to  do  their  best,  and  if  they  win  why 
they'll  put  ribbons  on  them  and  point  them  out  to  every 
one.  And,  indeed,  more  than  one  gun  —  it  would  be  tell- 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA      239 

ing  to  say  which  ones  —  did  wear  ribbon  decorations  and 
did  receive  embraces  from  a  victorious  crew  after  the  shoot- 
ing was  over. 

Just  before  the  shooting  begins  a  calm,  a  stillness,  comes 
over  the  ship.  Men  steady  themselves  with  a  supreme  effort 
to  keep  cool,  and  the  spirit  of  do  or  die  takes  possession  of 
the  ship,  and  as  the  guns  go  bang,  bang  and  boom,  boom 
you'd  think  these  officers  and  men  had  done  nothing  else 
all  their  lives  but  shoot  off  projectiles  and  it  was  as  much  a 
matter  of  course  with  them  as  getting  their  breakfasts. 
All  hands  are  now  smiling  and  good  cheer  pervades  every 
compartment,  and  it's  "That's  fine,  Bill!"  "Hit  'em 
again!"  "Sock  it  to  'em!"  "Soak  'er!"  "You're 
doin'  great ! "  "  Never  mind,  that's  only  one  miss ! " 
«  Bully  boy  !  " 

And  when  the  target  is  brought  on  board  between  the 
runs  to  be  repaired  for  use  again  you  can  understand  why 
the  men  crowd  around  it  while  the  umpires  examine  the 
rents  to  see  if  they  made  any  mistake  in  their  decisions  and 
you  can  also  enter  into  the  feelings  of  some  young  fel- 
low who  has  done  the  shooting  at  it  and  has  to  repair 
it,  as  he  looks  at  it  and  sees  only  three  hits,  for  ex- 
ample, out  of  five  shots,  while  he  fairly  moans :  "  I'll 
never  get  over  this  as  long  as  I  live.  I  thought  I  was  on 
the  target  and  don't  see  how  I  missed  it."  And  you  can 
also  enter  into  the  feelings  of  pride  and  exultation  of  an- 
other youngster  as  he  mends  his  target  with  every  shot  a 
hit  and  done  in  the  fastest  time  ever  known,  while  his  mates 
slap  him  on  the  back  and  say:  "'Great  work,  Bob! 
Great  work ! "  And  when  he  finishes  his  mending  and 


240  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

catches  the  eye  of  the  newspaper  correspondent  on  board 
you  know  how  he  feels  when  he  comes  up  and  touches  his 
hat  and  says: 

"  You  know  my  home,  sir,  is  in  a  little  town  in  the  centre 
of  Ohio.  I  don't  suppose  our  country  papers  print  your 
articles,  but  I  know  my  people  and  friends,  and  I  guess  all 
the  town,  would  be  glad  to  know  how  well  I  did  and  would 
like  to  see  my  picture  in  the  paper,  sir."  Well,  you  feel 
sorry  that  you  have  to  tell  him  that  you  are  not  allowed  to 
give  results  of  the  target  shooting  or  to  mention  names  or 
to  say  whether  any  ship  or  any  gun  did  well  or  badly. 
But  when  you  tell  him  that  in  good  time  all  his  people  and 
friends  and  neighbors  are  sure  to  find  out  about  it  he  smiles 
with  great  pride  and  says : 

"  Thank  you,  sir.  I  guess  we've  got  'em  all  skinned 
good  and  proper." 

But  how  is  it  all  done?  Why  don't  you  give  details? 
perhaps  you,  gentle  reader,  as  the  old-time  books  used  to 
say,  are  asking.  Well,  this  article  if  it  interests  you  at  all 
will  interest  you  because  of  what  it  will  not  say  rather  than 
because  of  what  it  will  say.  Listen  to  the  pledge,  which 
every  correspondent  bound  himself  to  keep  when  he  came 
on  this  cruise : 

"  To  refrain  from  giving  out  for  publication,  either 
while  with  the  fleet  or  later,  any  military  information  that 
might  be  of  value  to  a  possible  enemy,  such  as  detailed  de- 
scriptions of  mechanism  or  of  methods  of  drills,  of  han- 
dling fire  control  (that  means  the  way  of  controlling  the 
fire  of  the  guns),  tactical  manoeuvres,  scores  at  target  prac- 
tice, etc." 

And  this  pledge  was  supplemented  on  arrival  in  Mag- 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA 

dalena  Bay  by  further  instructions  from  the  Commander- 
in-Chief ,  which  said : 

"  No  statement  of  scores  shall  be  forwarded  or  whether 
ships  do  well  or  badly. 

"  No  comments  on  the  workings  of  the  battery  or  its 
appurtenances,  including  the  fire  control,  shall  be  for- 
warded." 

Now,  what  can  a  conscientious  correspondent  do  when, 
for  the  good  of  the  service  and  the  welfare  of  the  country, 
he's  all  tied  up  like  that?  Well,  there  are  lots  of  things 
that  can  be  told  about  target  shooting,  things  that  every 
naval  man  knows  about  and  are  no  secret  and  that  the  ordi- 
nary person  doesn't  know  about.  There's  no  inhibition  on 
writing  about  noise,  and  the  flare  of  guns  and  the  puffs  of 
smoke,  and  the  geysers  that  shoot  up  out  of  the  water  as 
the  shots  ricochet  far  out  to  the  horizon.  Oh,  yes,  the  old 
adage  is  still  true  that  there  are  a  good  many  ways  to  skin 
a  cat. 

As  has  been  said,  the  preparations  for  this  target  prac- 
tice began  as  soon  as  the  fleet  was  out  of  Hampton  Roads. 
There  wras  the  daily  drill  of  hours  and  hours  at  Morris 
tube  practice,  where  the  men  shoot  at  little  targets  from  lit- 
tle rifles  attached  to  the  big  guns.  The  targets  are  kept 
in  motion  and  every  man  has  to  shoot  his  string  of  so  many 
shots.  The  division  officer  soon  comes  to  know  which  men 
have  the  sharpest  eye,  the  steadiest  hand,  the  coolest  tem- 
perament, and  in  time  the  pointers  and  trainers  are  se- 
lected and  each  man  has  his  post  assigned  to  him.  And 
when  the  miniature  target  shooting  is  over  for  the  day 
there  is  the  team  work  drill  with  dummy  projectiles  and 
powder  bags  and  day  by  day  the  men  become  expert  in 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

making  this  exact  step  and  avoiding  that  false  move,  and 
show  increasing  deftness  and  zeal.  They  get  to  dreaming 
of  what  they  will  do.  They  learn  just  how  far  to  lean 
back  and  move  their  heads  when  the  gun  darts  past  their 
faces  in  its  lightning  recoil,  and  those  who  have  never 
heard  a  big  gun  go  off  try  to  imagine  what  the  roar  will 
be  like  and  to  nerve  themselves  not  to  mind  it  any  more  than 
a  firecracker's  report.  Then  as  the  final  test  comes  and 
they  hear  the  officers  scold  or  praise  them  they  get  into 
the  state  of  anxiety  described  in  the  first  part  of  this 
article. 

But  it  is  time  to  shoot.  Every  one  now  is  calm  and 
eager  to  begin.  The  bos'n  and  three  launches  and  two 
boats'  crews  go  out  and  put  up  the  first  targets.  The  ship 
gets  under  way  and  steams  about  slowly  until  she  gets  the 
proper  headway  of  a  predetermined  speed.  The  men  at 
the  targets  set  them  up  and  steam  away  to  a  buoy  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  target.  Slowly  the  ship  swings  out 
and  comes  on  the  range,  just  grazing  the  buoys  that  mark 
the  path.  The  men  are  at  the  guns.  The  outward  buoy 
is  passed  and  then  the  ship  approaches  the  first  buoy,  where 
the  firing  is  to  begin.  The  exact  range  of  that  point  is 
known.  The  elevation  of  the  gun  is  known,  as  is  also  the 
deflection.  You  know  the  sights  have  to  be  right  on  the 
target,  but  the  gun  itself  has  to  be  aimed  a  little  to  one  side, 
so  as  to  account  for  the  side  movement  of  the  projectile, 
due  to  the  ship's  motion,  as  it  flies  through  the  air.  What 
is  called  fire  control  determines  just  how  much  the  gun 
must  be  elevated  and  how  much  it  must  be  deflected  at  a 
certain  instant.  There  is  a  man  at  the  gun  who  turns  little 
wheels  and  adjusts  gauges,  and  he  gets  word  from  some  one 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA     243 

else  just  what  to  do  and  when  to  do  it.  Never  mind  how 
this  is  communicated  to  him. 

Meantime  one  man  has  been  training  the  gun  sideways 
and  another  has  been  raising  or  lowering  it,  independently 
of  the  man  who  has  been  setting  the  deflection  and  fixing 
the  range.  When  the  cross-wires  in  the  gun  pointer's  tele- 
scope are  right  on  the  bullseye  and  it  is  time  to  fire  he  pulls 
a  trigger  and  the  electrical  apparatus  sends  a  lightning 
impulse  into  the  powder,  there  is  a  roar,  a  thin  cloud  of 
smoke  from  the  primer,  a  flash  and  you  look  for  the  splash 
to  see  if  it  is  a  hit. 

As  the  ship  proceeds  along  the  base  of  the  triangle  the 
deflection  and  range  have  to  be  changed  constantly.  The 
change  is  greatest  at  the  ends  of  the  run.  Along  about 
the  centre,  when  you  are  just  opposite  the  target,  the 
changes  are  slight,  but  it  is  just  as  hard  to  hit  the  target. 
All  these  changes  are  matters  of  fractions  of  seconds.  It 
is  not  deliberate  work,  but  it  is  done  carefully,  and  there  is 
where  the  element  of  training  comes  in. 

The  first  roar  of  a  gun  sends  a  thrill  through  the  ship. 
The  man  who  has  fired  it  is  nervous.  If  it's  a  miss,  he 
steadies  himself  at  once.  Rare  is  it  that  the  second  shot  is 
a  miss.  The  gun-shy  part  of  that  man's  career  is  over. 
He  is  now  as  cool  as  if  he  were  whistling  Yankee  Doodle. 
Bang  and  crack  go  his  shots.  Perhaps  the  gases  obscure 
his  vision  to  some  extent.  He  waits  an  instant  from  time 
to  time  before  he  fires.  Pump,  pump,  goes  the  trigger. 
He's  got  the  range,  he's  got  his  nerve,  he  knows  when  he 
hits  and  when  he  misses.  It's  a  big  contest,  and  his  tools 
of  trade  are  the  confined  elements  of  destruction  with  the 
accumulated  scientific  skill  of  decades  behind  him,  and  the 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

result  depends  upon  his  clear  vision  and  steady  hand. 
The  task  inspires  him,  his  face  is  drawn  tense,  he  forgets 
everything  else.  He  becomes  part  of  that  machine  of  de- 
struction, an  automaton. 

The  most  spectacular  part  of  the  shooting  is  with  the 
smallest  and  biggest  guns.  The  small  guns  are  shot  at 
night.  Great  black  targets  with  white  centres  are  put  up, 
and  then  your  own  ship,  or  possibly  another  anchored 
near,  illuminates  the  targets  with  four  or  five  great 
searchlights.  The  guns  boom,  and  soon  a  little  curlicue 
of  light  is  seen  curving  through  the  air.  It  is  what  is 
called  a  tracer,  a  chemical  set  on  fire  by  the  redhot  projec- 
tile as  it  flies.  You  see  it  hit  the  target,  and  then  under 
the  lights  you  see  a  splash. 

Then  the  light  goes  curving  up  into  the  air  and  you 
know  the  projectile  is  ricocheting.  Down  it  comes.  There 
is  another  leap  and  flight  and  then  another  and  another,  and 
far  off,  two  or  three  miles  away,  it  disappears.  The  pro- 
jectile has  made  its  last  jump.  So  fast  are  the  small  guns 
fired  that  frequently  from  five  to  ten  of  these  rockets  are 
leaping  and  jumping  toward  the  sky  and  curving  back 
into  the  black  water.  It  is  beautiful  fireworks. 

Although  the  small  guns  are  fired  at  night,  some  of  them 
are  fired  in  the  daytime.  The  string  of  these  guns  is  run 
off  first.  No  noise  of  a  gun  is  quite  so  disturbing  as  that 
of  the  3-inch  weapons.  You  may  stuff  your  ears  full  of 
cotton  —  and  nearly  every  one  on  ship  does  that  —  but  the 
terrible  crack  smites  through  it  and  gives  you  a  jolt.  The 
deck  feels  an  earthquake  tremor,  and  you  are  glad  when  the 
ship  goes  off  the  range.  But  this  is  getting  ahead  of  the 
story.  Suppose  the  ship  has  just  passed  the  outer  buoy. 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA      245 

Steadily  she  approaches  the  first  firing  mark.     Soon  word 
is  passed : 

"  Buoy  on  the  bow !  " 

The  umpires  have  their  watches  in  hand,  the  crew  pre- 
pares to  load.  Now  the  buoy  is  abeam.  A  red  flag  goes 
up  to  the  forward  yardarm,  the  whistle  blows  and  then  the 
command  is  heard: 

"  Commence  firing !  " 

That  is  all  the  command  that  is  given.  For  the  small 
guns  a  given  number  of  shots  must  be  fired  as  quickly  as 
possible.  For  the  big  guns  as  many  shots  may  be  fired 
as  possible  within  a  certain  number  of  minutes.  The  shots 
are  counted  carefully  for  the  small  guns,  and  when  the 
given  quota  is  fired  the  order  is  given : 

"  Cease  firing !  " 

When  the  time  limit  has  expired  for  the  big  guns  a  whis- 
tle is  blown  by  the  umpire  who  has  the  watch  and  the  same 
command  is  given,  but  the  crew  has  the  right  to  fire  one 
more  shot  within  a  given  number  of  seconds  so  as  to  dis- 
charge any  projectile  that  may  have  been  in  the  gun  when 
the  cease  firing  command  was  given. 

As  soon  as  the  command  to  fire  is  given  intense  activity 
starts.  Crack  goes  the  3-pounder  or  3-inch.  Then  comes 
the  splash.  A  geyser  jumps  up  out  of  the  bay,  then  an- 
other and  another,  as  the  projectile  hits  the  water.  These 
geysers  look  as  if  Old  Faithful  of  the  Yellowstone  had  been 
brought  down  to  give  a  special  performance.  The  spurts 
are  not  in  a  straight  line,  for  the  curvature  of  a  small  wave 
deflects  the  course  of  the  projectile  and  sends  it  careening 
this  way  or  that.  You  can  tell  from  the  position  of  the 
spurt  whether  it  was  hit  or  not  and  you  count  the  hits  and 


246  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

misses  carefully.  You  forget  the  ear-smiting  cracks  of 
the  guns  and  the  jolt  of  the  decks.  Did  he  make  a  hit?  is 
what  you  want  to  know.  And  is  the  pointer  doing  his 
work  well?  Cheers  come  from  various  parts  of  the  ship 
as  hit  after  hit  is  made,  and  if  it's  a  clean  string  there  is 
general  jubilation. 

But  the  ship  is  moving  steadily  along  the  course.  There 
is  always  a  slight  gap  in  the  shooting  when  the  pointers 
change  positions  and  telescopes,  but  bang,  bang,  crack, 
crack,  come  the  reports,  and  before  you  know  it  the  whistle 
blows  and  the  red  flag  is  lowered  and  that  string  is  over. 
Then  the  ship  slowly  circles  areund  to  the  targets,  and  the 
repairing  cTew  in  the  small  boats  dash  over  to  mark  the 
hits  of  the  small  guns  with  red  paint  and  to  make  repairs, 
change  targets  and  fix  things  up  generally.  Then  comes 
another  start  for  the  range,  and  so  hour  after  hour  the 
ship  goes  back  and  forth  until  every  small  gun  has  had  its 
say  and  every  pointer  has  had  his  few  minutes. 

When  the  time  comes  for  the  target  practice  of  the  great 
guns  no  red  paint  is  needed  to  mark  the  hits.  You  can  see 
the  projectiles  as  they  near  the  target,  needlelike  things 
that  seem  to  flee  with  the  speed  of  light.  You  can  see  the 
holes  they  make  if  you  take  a  glass.  Their  roar  is  dull 
and  the  shake  of  the  ship  is  a  powerful  tremor.  Your 
ears  are  not  smitten,  as  with  the  smaller  guns,  but  the 
shock  is  tremendous.  You  are  close  to  the  manifestation 
of  a  terrific  force.  But  if  you  wish  to  see  the  best  part  of 
the  work  you  must  go  into  the  casemate,  where  the  firing  is 
done.  Ah,  there's  where  team  work  is  going  on ! 

Take  a  7-inch  gun.  The  word  to  commence  firing  is 
passed.  Powder  and  projectiles  are  all  ready.  The  gun 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA     '247 

captain  throws  open  the  breech  block.  The  men  lift  the 
projectile  and  place  it  in  the  breech.  Scarcely  have  they 
removed  their  tray  before  a  long  wooden  rammer  is  thrust 
in  and  the  projectile,  which  has  been  carefully  smoothed  off 
and  oiled,  is  run  home  and  seated.  Get  out  of  the  way 
quick,  rammer,  for  the  powder  bags  are  being  thrust  in ! 
Don't  make  a  false  step,  for  you  may  hinder  some  one  who 
has  just  one  thing  to  do  in  the  shortest  possible  time! 

The  charge  is  now  home,  the  gun  captain  whisks  the 
breech  block  into  place,  the  primer  is  attached  and  then  the 
captain  slaps  the  pointer  on  the  back  or  cries  ready.  All 
this  time  the  gun  is  being  trained,  the  range  and  deflection 
have  been  changed,  and  instantly  there  is  a  roar,  a  blinding 
flash.  The  members  of  the  crew  close  to  the  gun  move 
just  far  enough  back  to  escape  the  recoil,  like  a  prize- 
fighter when  he  throws  his  head  back  and  escapes  a  blow  by 
the  fraction  of  an  inch. 

Open  comes  the  breech  in  a  flash,  then  another  charge  on 
it  by  the  various  men,  another  slap  on  the  back,  another 
roar  and  it's  a  hit  or  a  miss.  Then  a  third  charge,  and  an- 
other and  another.  The  men  sweat  and  breathe  hard,  their 
faces  become  strained  and  some  of  them  white.  The  fight 
is  on,  and  the  work,  second  by  second,  every  one  of  them 
as  valuable  as  hours  would  be  ordinarily,  saps  the  strength 
and  energy  of  the  men  in  their  supreme  effort. 

"  Every  shot  a  hit ! "  cries  one  of  the  crew  exultingly. 
"  What  was  the  time?  "  asks  another. 
"  So  many  seconds,"  says  the  umpire. 
"  That   beats   all   records ! "   shouts   another,   and   then 
there  are  cheers  and  great  rejoicing.     After  the  first  fire 
scarcely  a  man  hears  the  noise  of  the  gun.     It  is  a  mere 


248  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

pop  to  them.  Sometimes  they  overreach  themselves  in  the 
desire  to  be  quick  and  they  make  a  miss.  They  don't  hear 
the  last  of  that  for  some  time,  but  it's  all  in  the  work  and 
part  of  the  general  eagerness  to  do  well. 

Then  come  the  8-inch  guns.  The  rumble  and  roar  is 
only  a  little  worse  than  the  7-inch  guns.  The  geysers 
shoot  a  little  higher  and  the  echoes  from  the  report  come 
back  to  the  ship  like  so  many  sharp  thunderclaps,  where  the 
lightning  is  close.  Indeed,  if  you  want  to  have  a  better 
reproduction  of  thunder  than  any  theatre  can  produce  just 
manage  to  be  on  a  battleship  while  it  fires  off  its  8-inch 
guns  in  rapid  succession.  It's  the  kind  of  thunder  that 
comes  when  lightning  hits  and  you  look  out  to  see  if  the 
tree  in  your  front  yard  has  been  split.  Crash  after  crash 
comes  back  to  make  you  duck  and  dodge  until  the  projectile 
has  finished  its  thunderbolt  career  and  darts  into  the  water 
with  perhaps  the  ignominious  mission  of  killing  a  fish  in- 
stead of  shattering  a  battleship. 

But  the  IS-inch  guns !  Pack  the  cotton  well  into  your 
ears !  Keep  your  mouth  open !  Stand  as  far  away  from 
the  muzzle  as  you  can  on  the  ship !  Secure  all  the  things 
in  your  stateroom,  for  if  you  don't  you  may  find  your 
shaving  mug  on  the  floor  and  your  hairbrush  mixed  up  with 
the  fragments  of  your  soap  dish !  Close  your  port  or  else 
your  trinkets  may  be  whisked  into  a  heap  and  some  of  them 
broken  into  pieces !  The  whistle  has  blown.  The  seconds 
go  by,  oh  how  slowly!  Will  they  never  get  that  gun 
loaded?  Then  comes  a  blast.  The  white  flame  seems 
brighter  than  sunlight,  the  roar  runs  through  you  like  an 
electric  shock,  the  decks  seem  to  sink  and  you  wonder  if 
the  eruption  of  Mont  Pelee  had  more  force  than  that.  You 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA 

look  toward  the  target.  There  goes  the  projectile,  straight 
through  the  bullseye.  Then  an  enormous  geyser  leaps 
into  the  air  more  than  a  hundred  feet  high.  Surely  that  is 
Old  Faithful!  Then  comes  another  half  a  mile  away. 
Then  another  and  another  and  you  wonder  if  the  projectile 
is  going  clear  over  to  Europe. 

And  with  this  comes  that  peculiar  roar  that  no  other 
agent  of  power  produces.  It  is  more  like  the  rush  of  a 
limited  express  into  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  a  tunnel. 
You  can  hear  the  chug,  chug  of  the  locomotive.  You  hear 
the  rumble  of  a  fast  train  on  a  still  night  through  a  val- 
ley. You  can  almost  see  the  hills  and  the  little  river  as 
the  train  dashes  over  bridges  and  noisy  trestles.  There  it 
goes  into  the  tunnel  again,  and  before  you  can  speak  of  it 
out  it  comes  with  another  roar!  More  bridges  and  tres- 
tles, more  tunnels,  more  chugs,  and  then  there  comes  a 
steady  roar.  The  train  is  going  over  the  hill  and  out  of 
the  last  tunnel,  and  you  take  a  long  breath.  Before  you 
expel  it  from  your  lungs  there  is  another  smiting  flash 
and  you  are  dancing  on  your  toes  again.  The  ship  seems 
to  settle  and  you  get  the  geysers,  the  roar  of  the  fastest 
train  that  ever  ran.  And  so  it  goes  until  the  whistle  blows 
and  you  swing  around  to  look  at  the  target  and  then  re- 
peat the  performance.  You  now  begin  to  realize  what  a 
battleship  means,  and  you  are  speculating  about  it  when  an 
officer  comes  around  and  says : 

"  Pretty  fine,  eh  ?  Well,  that's  nothing  to  battle  prac- 
tice! when  for  a  certain  number  of  minutes  we  let  all  the 
guns  go  together.  That's  real  noise!  This  is  just  pop- 
gun work." 

Well,  if  it  is  not  noise  you  begin  to  think  that  if  there  is 


250  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

ever  another  war  you  know  one  place  where  you  don't  want 
to  be,  and  that  is  on  a  battleship.  Every  one  of  the  ships 
had  to  go  through  this  work,  and  when  it  was  all  over  then 
it  was  that  the  men  on  these  ships  felt  the  sense  of  relief 
that  none  of  them  experienced  over  their  safe  arrival  and 
the  performance  of  the  fleet  on  the  way  to  this  bay.  They 
were  ready  to  drop  in  their  tracks.  They  were  worn  out, 
as  the  expression  goes. 

There  is  one  moment  of  great  suspense  at  every  gun  in 
such  practice  as  this.  It  is  when  some  adjustment  has 
gone  wrong,  when  some  accident  has  occurred,  and  when 
there  is  real  danger.  Then  the  officer  in  charge  cries 
sharply : 

"Silence!" 

That  means  that  no  more  shots  must  be  fired  from  that 
gun  on  that  run.  With  it  goes  a  penalty  that  works 
against  the  ship's  record.  More  than  once  such  command 
has  been  heard  on  these  ships,  but  it  is  wise,  for  all  too  sad 
have  been  the  records  of  accidents  at  target  practice  not 
only  in  our  own  ships  but  in  those  of  every  other  navy.  It 
would  have  pleased  any  one  to  observe  all  the  precautions 
that  were  taken  this  time.  The  navy  has  learned  some  les- 
sons. Safer  and  safer  the  turrets  are  becoming  all  the 
time.  And  this  element  of  speed  which  enters  into  all  con- 
tests with  the  firing  of  guns  conduces  to  that  end.  You 
see,  it  is  not  only  the  hits  that  count  but  the  time  in  which 
they  are  made. 

But  why  this  haste,  you  ask.  Well,  it  trains  the  men  to 
get  the  drop  on  the  enemy  and  also,  and  perhaps  of  just  as 
much  importance,  it  reveals  the  defects  in  the  system.  In 
other  words,  it  tends  more  to  make  turrets  and  ordnance 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA      251 

what  the  experts  call  "  foolproof."  It  may  be  said  that 
nearly  all  of  our  ordnance  on  these  ships  has  reached  that 
stage,  the  stage  where  some  man  by  some  unforeseen  fool 
action,  one  that  no  one  could  guess  would  happen,  endan- 
gers and  probably  costs  the  lives  of  himself  and  several 
others.  Every  breakdown  of  a  gun  on  this  practice  has 
had  its  value  and  it  all  goes  toward  speeding  the  day  when 
these  faults  will  be  corrected  and  a  ship  may  go  into  action 
with  a  reasonable  assurance  that  all  its  mechanism  will  do 
the  work  it  was  intended  to  do.  Yes,  speed  has  its  ad- 
vantages, very  great  advantages. 

What  a  change  in  twenty  years !  There  are  men  on  this 
ship  who  used  to  take  part  in  the  old  practice  on  such  ships 
as  the  Saratoga  or  the  Quinnebaugh,  the  one  that  was  on 
the  European  station  so  long  that  some  one  in  the  Navy 
Department  forgot  for  a  year  or  two  to  put  it  in  the  Naval 
Register.  The  Saratoga  had  one  8-inch  muzzle  loading 
rifle  that  had  formerly  been  a  smooth  bore  11-inch  Dahl- 
gren  gun,  the  kind  of  gun  that  resembled  a  soda  water  bot- 
tle and  was  called  such.  It  was  mounted  amidships  be- 
tween the  fireroom  hatch  and  the  break  of  the  to'gallant 
fo'c's'le.  The  bulwarks  at  that  place  were  pierced  by 
pivot  gun  ports  that  could  be  secured  as  part  of  the  bul- 
warks when  the  gun  was  not  in  action. 

The  gun  swung  on  circles  and  pivot  bolts  by  using  haul- 
ing and  training  tackles,  and  could  be  used  on  either 
broadside  and  about  ten  points  forward  and  abaft  the  beam. 
The  ship  had  also  four  9-inch  smoothbore  Dahlgrens  to 
complete  its  main  battery.  It  required  about  twenty-two 
men  to  handle  such  a  gun.  The  charges  of  powder  were 
in  canvas  bags  and  rammed  home.  The  guns  could  be 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

sighted  up  to  2,000  yards.  The  recoil  was  taken  up  by 
a  heavy  hempen  hawser  fastened  to  the  bulwarks  and  passed 
through  the  cascabel  of  the  gun.  The  range  for  target 
practice  was  1,000  yards,  and  lucky  was  the  gunner  if  he 
made  30  per  cent,  of  hits. 

In  those  days  the  men  at  the  guns  were  not  half  stripped, 
as  they  are  now.  One-half  of  them  were  armed  with  cut- 
lass and  pistol  and  the  other  half  with  magazine  rifles  and 
bayonets.  This  was  to  repel  boarders.  That's  all  gone. 
No  battleship  ever  expects  to  repel  boarders  in  these  days. 
Protection  for  the  gunners  was  made  by  piling  up  ham- 
mocks and  bags  —  about  the  last  thing  that  would  be 
thought  of,  with  its  danger  from  fire,  in  these  days,  even 
if  all  else  failed.  Nowadays  the  recoil  is  taken  up  hy- 
draulically,  and  the  gun  is  shot  back  into  place  with 
springs.  Even  fewer  men  are  required  to  handle  an  8-inch 
gun  than  twenty  years  ago.  One  of  these  guns  will  shoot 
five  times  further  and  do  ten  times  —  yes,  one  might  say 
almost  a  hundredfold  —  more  damage  than  the  old  ones. 
And  there  are  eight  of  these  on  a  ship  like  the  Louisiana, 
to  say  nothing  of  twelve  7-inch  guns,  four  12-inch,  twenty 
3-inch  and  twelve  3-pounders. 

In  target  practice  on  one  of  these  ships  ten  shots  are 
fired  from  each  7-inch  gun,  twenty  from  each  3-inch  gun, 
twenty  from  each  3-pounder  and  as  many  from  each 
8-inch  and  12-inch  as  can  be  got  off  in  a  given 
time.  It  may,  be  stretching  the  proprieties  to  tell  even 
that  much,  and  to  get  back  to  generalities  it  may  be 
said  that  about  twenty-five  tons  of  metal  were  fired 
from  all  the  guns.  The  cost?  Well,  put  it  for  con- 
venience sake  at  $300,000  for  the  fleet.  Expensive? 


TARGET  SHOOTING  AT  MAGDALENA      253 

Not  a  bit  of  it !  That  expenditure  is  the  best  money  spent 
by  the  United  States  Navy.  It  is  the  premium  of  insur- 
ance paid  annually  for  efficiency,  and  it  will  prove  its 
value  if  these  ships  ever  get  into  war.  There'll  be  no  hit 
or  miss  or  reckless  helter-skelter  shooting  then.  To  make 
the  practice  record  here  each  ship  has  to  steam  about  100 
miles  in  going  over  the  course  and  in  a  general  way  it  may 
be  said  that  each  ship  made  from  thirty-five  to  forty  runs 
on  the  range.  There,  that's  about  all  to  be  said  in  print 
or  elsewhere  about  target  practice  by  this  fleet. 

Well  now  honest,  you  say,  didn't  the  ships  do  well, 
pretty  well,  just  a  little  better  than  ever  before,  perhaps  a 
great  deal  better?  Just  that  much  is  what  you  want  to 
know?  Well,  you'll  have  to  ask  the  Navy  Department 
about  that.  In  its  own  good  time  and  in  its  own  way  it 
may  decide  to  give  out  such  information  and  it  may  not. 
You'll  never  get  an  answer  from  the  Sun's  correspondent 
on  this  trip. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ROUTINE  OF   A  BATTLESHIP 

Life  and  Work  on  U.  S.  Battleship  —  Every  Day  Crowded  With 
Duties  and  Drills  for  All  on  Board  —  The  Overworked  Executive 
—  Responsibility  for  Everything  Finally  Culminates  With  the  Cap- 
tain—All Effort  Has  in  View  the  Efficiency  of  the  Ship  as  a 
Fighting  Machine  —  Minute  Care  in  Seemingly  Minor  Details 
Makes  for  Perfection  in  Case  of  Crisis  —  Standing  Watch  and  Gen- 
eral Quarters  —  Catering  and  Hygiene  —  Smart  Signal  Work  — 
Launch  Etiquette  —  Reverence  for  Quarter  Deck  and  National 
Anthem. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

PUNTA  ARENAS,  CHILE,  Jan.  31. 

UNUSUAL  and  attractive  as  an  extended  cruise  on  a 
warship  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  is  to  a 
civilian,  and  however  it  may  cause  him  to  be  envied 
by  his  acquaintances,  it  must  also  be  set  down,  if  one  would 
chronicle  the  truth  and  nothing  else,  that  it  has  its  draw- 
backs. Probably  the  first  that  the  supernumerary  cargo 
discovers  is  that  there  is  practically  no  place  on  the  decks 
where  he  may  sit  down.  He  soon  realizes  that  a  warship 
is  not  a  passenger  steamship,  with  steamer  chairs,  smoking 
rooms,  deck  stewards  and  all  the  other  appurtenances  that 
go  to  advance  the  traveller's  comfort. 

The  next  drawback  that  forces  itself  upon  one's  atten- 
tion, after  the  novelty  of  looking  around  wears  off  to  some 
extent,  is  that  the  warship  passenger  is  a  mighty  lonely 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  255 

person,  and,  unless  he  can  amuse  himself  or  is  naturally  one 
of  the  reserved  kind  and  lives  in  his  own  shell  he'll  find  time 
hanging  heavy  on  his  hands. 

You  see  you  can't  go  up  to  an  officer  and  gossip  when 
he's  drilling  a  crew  in  loading  shells  in  a  gun.  You  can't 
pounce  upon  the  Captain  whenever  you  see  him  on  the  deck 
and  make  him  chat  to  you.  You  can't  exercise  conver- 
sational powers  when  general  quarters  or  fire  drill  is  on. 
You  don't  feel  like  asking  for  what  is  called  a  gabfest 
when  the  other  fellow  is  figuring  out  problems  in  naviga- 
tion. It  is  not  the  time  to  be  chummy  when  every  man  on 
the  bridge  is  watching  signals  from  a  flagship  and  hurrying 
things  so  as  not  to  be  the  last  to  send  up  the  proper  pen- 
nant or  to  haul  it  down.  When  the  red  and  white  lights 
of  the  ardois  signal  system  are  flashing  at  night  or  the  stiff 
arms  of  the  semaphores  are  throwing  themselves  about  in  a 
helter-skelter  fashion  day  or  night  it  is  not  wise  to  ask  what 
they  are  saying. 

There  is  so  much  going  on  entirely  foreign  to  the  aver- 
age man  that  he  feels  as  if  he  were  in  a  new  world  with 
busy  people  all  about  him  speaking  a  strange  language  and 
doing  strange  things  and  he's  literally  alone.  Gradually 
it  is  borne  in  on  him  that  he's  a  cat  in  a  strange  garret. 
There's  plenty  of  civility  all  around,  but  for  hours  and 
hours  a  day  there  is  no  companionship ;  no  one  with  whom 
he  can  form  a  pool  on  the  day's  run,  or  sit  down  with  a 
steward  at  his  elbow  to  play  a  friendly  game,  or  one  for 
blood ;  no  yarn  spinners  handy  when  you  want  'em ;  no  lux- 
uries in  travelling. 

Of  course  one  may  find  easy  chairs  in  the  wardroom 
with  plenty  of  reading  matter,  and  you  have  a  chair  and  a 


256  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

desk,  in  addition  to  your  bunk,  in  your  room,  but  no  one 
can  stay  below  at  sea  unless  the  weather  is  foul,  and  even 
then  he  chafes  at  it.  No  matter  how  fine  your  house  is  at 
home  you  take  more  comfort  in  seasonable  weather  in  sit- 
ting on  your  porch  than  in  your  library,  and  the  same 
holds  true  at  sea  on  a  warship  when  it  comes  to  sitting  in 
an  easy  chair  in  the  wardroom  or  in  your  own  room. 

There  are  excellent  reasons  for  these  two  drawbacks,  the 
lack  of  creature  comforts,  luxuries,  if  you  please,  and  of 
genial  companionship  at  any  hour,  in  going  to  sea 
as  a  civilian  on  a  warship.  Only  one  need  be  mentioned. 
That  is  that  a  warship  is  a  tremendously  busy  workshop 
where  the  boss,  his  assistants  and  the  workmen  have  a 
peculiar  kind  of  work  on  hand,  such  as  exists  nowhere  else 
in  the  world,  and  there  is  no  time  in  which  to  pander  to 
the  whims  and  desires  of  an  outsider  sent  on  board  by  the 
order  of  executive  authorities  higher  up. 

The  work  on  hand  is  to  move  a  floating  fort  of  steel 
swiftly  through  the  water  in  complete  synchronism  with  a 
lot  of  other  floating  forts  and  then  to  prepare  those  who 
are  engaged  in  work  in  this  fort  for  just  one  thing,  to  de- 
stroy and  kill.  Everything  is  subservient  to  one  idea  —  to 
be  ready  to  fight  at  the  swiftest  pace  for  just  about  one 
hour;  for  be  it  known  that  if  one  of  the  warships  in  this 
great  battle  fleet  were  fought  at  its  swiftest  and  fullest 
capacity  it  would  be  all  over,  one  way  or  the  other,  in  an 
hour  or  less.  You  see  fighting  a  warship  is  not  a  long 
distance  race;  it's  a  hundred  yard  dash,  to  change  the 
figure.  Getting  ready  for  that  dash,  that  supreme  effort 
at  the  fastest  speed,  calls  for  all  the  concentration  and 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  257 

hard,  unremitting  toil  that  years  of  education  in  a  com- 
plex specialty  and  years  of  experience  can  employ. 

When  this  work  is  going  on  those  engaged  in  it  want 
outsiders  out  of  the  way,  and  if  you're  a  wise  outsider  you 
want  to  get  out  of  the  way.  Hence  at  such  times  it  is  likely 
that  you'll  get  pretty  tired  standing  around  on  your  feet, 
with  no  place  to  rest  your  weary  bones  and  no  companion 
with  whom  you  can  even  be  bromidic.  Yes,  it's  fine  and 
great  to  cruise  14,000  miles  on  a  splendid  warship,  but  truly 
it  has  some  drawbacks. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  this  that  one  lacks  for 
comfort,  complete  comfort,  or  for  genial  companionship 
on  a  battleship.  Far  from  it.  The  ship  abounds  in  read- 
ing matter.  There  are  easy  chairs  in  plenty  in  the  ward- 
room. And  as  for  companionship,  a  more  genial  set  of 
good  fellows  never  existed  in  any  profession  than  these 
same  busy  naval  officers,  from  the  Captains  down.  There 
are  many  diversions.  You  can  watch  the  drills,  the  signal- 
ling ;  you  can  have  a  game  of  cribbage  or  whist  in  the  even- 
ing; you  have  a  fine  band  to  play  for  you  at  dinner  and 
on  deck  in  the  warm  evenings ;  you  can  make  friends  with 
the  pets  on  board,  tease  the  dog,  play  with  the  cats,  watch 
the  monkeys,  talk  with  the  poll  parrots  and  stroke  the 
goat's  head,  all  the  time  watching  lest  he  tries  to  butt 
you,  you  can  figure  out  the  course,  estimate  latitude  and 
longitude;  you  can  talk  with  the  men  when  the  smoking 
lamp  is  lighted,  although  you  must  never  be  chummy,  but 
sometimes  you  can  get  an  old  quartermaster  who  has  been 
all  over  the  world  and  draw  him  off  into  a  secluded  place 
and  let  him  spin  his  yarns  to  you,  and  also  let  him  growl 


258  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

out  his  growls  and  try  to  convince  you  that  everything 
in  this  world,  especially  in  the  navy,  is  rotten,  after  which 
he  feels  better  and  you  have  had  a  pleasant  hour  of  amuse- 
ment, knowing  full  well  that  when  he  gets  to  port  and 
meets  another  quartermaster  of  another  navy  he'll  be  blow- 
ing himself  hoarse  in  his  contention  that  our  navy  is  the 
best  in  the  world  and  that  there's  no  calling  equal  to  that 
of  a  real  sailor  man,  and  he's  ready  to  fight  to  prove  it. 

So  it  isn't  all  work  and  no  play  on  a  warship,  but  it 
comes  mighty  near  to  it  for  days  and  days,  for,  like  a 
woman's  work  the  work  is  never  done.  You'd  realize  it  if 
some  night  after  a  hard  day's  work  is  over  you  heard  the 
bells  and  bugles  crying  out  for  general  quarters  for  you 
to  tumble  out  of  your  hammock  or  bunk  when  you  had 
earned  a  good  night's  rest.  You'd  realize  it  if  you  had 
been  straining  your  eyes  for  hours  in  the  daylight  at 
target  practice  and  then  had  to  go  at  it  again  at  night. 
You  know  you  may  have  to  fight  at  night  and  you've  got 
to  be  ready  for  it.  There's  no  other  way  to  prepare  for 
it  than  by  work  at  night. 

It's  all  a  matter  of  course,  part  of  the  day's  work,  with 
these  sea  dogs  and  gun  fighters.  And  when  you  suggest 
that  you  are  thinking  of  writing  a  piece  for  the  paper 
telling  about  the  routine  on  a  warship  they  are  surprised 
that  any  such  topic  could  be  interesting  and  tell  you  that 
it's  nothing  new  and  is  going  on  all  the  time  just  as  it  has 
been  going  on  for  decades  and  centuries.  Then  they'll  ad- 
mit perhaps  that  the  general  public  doesn't  realize  the 
amount  of  work  that  is  done  on  a  warship  and  they'll  pro- 
duce this  schedule  of  hours  and  tasks  that  sums  it  up : 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  259 

DAILY   SEA   ROUTINE. 

3:00  A.  M. —  Call  ship's  cook. 

3:45  —  Call  the  section  of  the  watch,  relieve  wheel  and  lookout. 

4 :00  —  Relieve  the  watch  on  deck. 

4:30  —  Turn  to,  out  smoking  lamp,  pipe  sweepers,  clear  up  deck. 

4 :50  —  Call  music,  masters-at-arms  and  boatswain's  mates. 

5 :00  —  Reveille,  bugles  and  drum ;  call  all  sections  except  mid- 
watch  sections. 

5 :15  —  Execute  morning  orders. 

5:30  — Trice  up  clothes  lines. 

At  sunrise  station  masthead  lookouts,  take  in  deck  lookouts  and  put 
out  running  lights. 

6:30  —  Break  up  and  send  below  to  be  burned  all  boxes  and  arti- 
cles that  will  float. 

6 :40  —  Trice  up  six  bell  hammock  cloths. 

6 :50  —  Up  all  hammocks,  serve  out  water,  hoist  ashes. 

7:00  —  Time  and  uniform  signal;  mess  gear  for  sections  below. 

7:15  —  Breakfast  for  sections  below,  light  smoking  lamp;  ditty 
boxes  allowed. 

7 :30  —  Mess  gear  for  watch  on  deck. 

7 :40  —  Relieve  wheel  and  lookouts. 

7 :45  —  On  deck  duty  sections.     Section  on  deck  to  breakfast. 

8:15  —  Turn  to,  clean  gun  and  deck  bright  work. 

8:25  — Sick  call. 

8 :45  —  Report  at  mast. 

8 :50  —  Clear  up  decks ;  down  towel  lines  and  ditty  boxes ;  sweepers. 

8:55  — Officers'  call. 

9:00  —  Quarters  for  muster  and  inspection;  setting  up  drill. 

9:30  — Drill  call. 

10:00  — Relieve  the  wheel  and  lookouts. 
Signal  (1)  absentees,  (2)  number  of  sick. 
11:00  — Hoist  ashes. 

11:30  —  Retreat  from  drill.     Pipe  down  clothes,  if  dry;  sweepers. 
11:45  —  Mess  gear  for  sections  below. 

Noon  —  Dinner;  duty  section  remain  on  deck.     Signal  (1)  coal  on 
hand,  (2)  coal  expended,  (3)  latitude,  (4)  longitude. 
P.  M. —  Mess  gear  for  duty  section. 
Dinner  duty  section. 

1:00  — Turn  to;  out  smoking  lamp;  down  ditty  boxes;  sweepers; 
pipe  down  clothes  if  dry,  then  aired  bedding,  if  up;  start  work  about 
decks. 


260  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

1:30  —  Serve  out  provisions. 

2:00  —  Relieve  wheel  and  lookouts. 

3:00  — Hoist  ashes. 

4:00  — Relieve  the  watch. 

4:30  —  Knock  off  all  work.  Clear  up  decks;  sweepers;  pipe  down 
clothes. 

5 :15  —  Mess  gear  for  sections  going  on  watch. 

5 :30  —  Supper  for  sections  going  on  watch. 

5 :45  —  Mess  gear  for  other  sections. 

5 :55  —  Relieve  wheel  and  lookouts. 

6 :00  —  Relieve  section  on  duty.     Other  sections  to  supper. 
At  sunset  —  Set  running  lights;  lay  down  masthead  lookouts;  sta- 
tion   deck    lookouts;    couple    fire    hose;    muster    life    boats'    crews; 
coxswain  report  when  crews  are  present  and  lifeboats  ready  for  lower- 
ing.    Test  night  signal  apparatus. 

6:30  —  Turn  to;  sweepers;  scrub  clothes  on  forecastle  (except 
Sunday). 

7:00  —  Hoist  ashes.     Clear  deck  for  hammocks. 

7:30  — Hammocks. 

8:00  —  Relieve  watch,  wheel  and  lookouts.  Signal  and  searchlight 
drill  as  ordered.  Signal  (1)  latitude;  (2)  longitude. 

At  sea  when  meals  are  piped  the  duty  section  will  remain  on  deck 
until  relieved  by  the  next  section  for  duty.  When,  however,  the  ship 
is  cruising  singly  at  sea  and  there  is  no  immediate  necessity  for  the 
services  of  the  section  on  deck,  or  when  cruising  at  sea  in  company 
and  it  is  apparent  that  the  services  of  men  on  deck,  other  than  those 
actually  on  watch  at  stations,  is  unnecessary,  then  mess  gear  will  be 
spread  for  all  sections  at  the  same  time,  and  all  sections  will  go  to 
meals  at  the  same  time,  except  those  men  actually  on  duty,  but  reliefs 
must  get  their  meals  and  relieve  their  stations  promptly.  In  any 
case  the  duty  section  must  stand  by  to  answer  an  emergency  call. 
In  bad  weather,  or  when  engaged  in  manoeuvres,  or  when  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  land,  the  duty  section  shall  remain  on  deck  until  re- 
lieved by  the  next  section. 

There  is  a  daily  port  routine,  similar  in  general  outline 
to  the  one  for  cruising.  It  calls  for  the  ceremony  of 
colors,  hoisting  or  lowering  the  flag,  boat  duty  and  other 
things  which  can  come  only  when  a  ship  is  in  port.  But 
these  two  schedules  only  hint  at  the  full  story. 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  261 

Probably  the  first  impression  that  a  stranger  to  all  this 
ship  routine  gets  is  that  a  warship  is  one  of  the  most  dis- 
cordant places  in  the  world.  They  are  everlastingly  blow- 
ing bugles,  each  bugle  out  of  key  with  all  the  others.  One 
bugler  will  sound  a  lot  of  hippity-hoppity  notes  and  then 
another  will  take  up  the  same  refrain  with  a  blare  and  a 
mean  half  note  or  quarter  note  variation  and  then  two  or 
three  others  will  join  in,  on  decks,  below  decks,  and  the 
jangling  jumble  rolls  in  on  your  ear  drums  in  such  a  dis- 
cord that  you  feel  as  if  you'd  like  to  punch  the  man 
who  told  'em  to  do  it.  At  the  same  time  you  see  men, 
hundreds  of  whom  must  have  no  ear  for  note  discrimination, 
jump  to  the  tasks  to  which  they  are  summoned  and  you 
wonder  how  they  know  what  the  bugles  are  telling  them. 

There  are  ninety-eight  of  these  bugle  calls  on  a  man-o'- 
war  and  how  the  men  differentiate  them  passes  your  un- 
derstanding. It  aggravates  you  that  you  can't  make  them 
out  yourself.  You  begin  to  study  them  and  you  do  get  so 
that  you  are  able  to  recognize  two  or  three,  and  then  you 
get  lost  and  you  begin  to  have  an  admiration  for  the  men 
who  have  mastered  them  all,  just  as  you  admire  an  iron- 
worker who  can  walk  a  beam  400  feet  in  the  air.  He  can 
do  something  that  you  can't  do  and  you  respect  him  for  it. 

Still  you  keep  trying  to  master  those  calls.  Finally  you 
learn  the  trick  partly.  You  associate  certain  words  with 
certain  jingles  —  perhaps  it  would  be  better  to  say 
certain  jangles  —  and  then  you  pat  yourself  on  the  back 
and  feel  that  you  are  pretty  nearly  half  as  good  as  a  sailor- 
man  in  Uncle  Sam's  navy.  The  trick  is  the  same  as  with 
the  army  calls  and  many  of  the  jingles  are  the  same.  For 
example,  you  soon  learn  reveille,  for  the  refrain, 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

We  can't  get  'em  up ;  we  can't  get  'em  up ; 
We  can't  get  'em  up  in  the  morning. 

fits  the  call  so  completely  that  one  who  has  once  learned  it 
can  never  forget  what  it  means. 

Again  when  the  bugles  sound  the  sick  bay  call  you  find 
yourself  unconsciously  saying  to  yourself: 

Come  and  get  your  quinine,  quinine. 

When  the  officers'  call  for  quarters  is  sounded  you  feel 
like  saying  to  the  one  nearest  you : 

Get  your  sword  on;  get  your  sword  on. 

When  the  mess  call  is  blown  you  know  that  the  blue- 
jackets are  saying  to  themselves  as  the  notes  blare  out: 

Soupy,  soupy,  soup,  without  a  single  bean; 
Porky  porky,  pork,  without  a  streak  of  lean. 

When  assembly  sounds  you  join  with  the  rest  in  the 
warning : 

You'd  better  be  here  at  the  next  roll  call. 
When  the  swimming  call  comes  you  say  to  yourself: 

Bought  a  chicken  for  fifty  cents ; 

The  son  of  a  gun  jumped  over  the  fence! 

When  the  call  for  pay  day  is  made  you  know  how  the  men 
feel  as  they  say: 

Pay  day;  pay  day;  come  and  get  your  pay. 

And  when  tattoo  is  over  and  then  comes  taps  you  feel 
drowsy  as  the  sweet  notes,  one  of  the  very  few  in  army  or 
navy  calls  that  are  sweet,  sing  to  you: 

Go  to  sleep;  go  to  sleep;  go  to  sleep. 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  266 

Oh,  yes,  you  finally  get  to  know  many  of  these  calls  and 
then  somehow  the  discord  seems  to  leave  them,  and,  like  the 
ship  that  found  herself,  you  begin  to  find  yourself  on  ship- 
board and  you  feel  that  you  are  getting  on.  That  bugling 
ceases  to  trouble  you  further. 

The  pipes  of  the  bos'n  also  pierce  your  ears.  Always 
shrill,  they  all  seem  to  end  in  a  piercing  shriek.  At  first 
they  make  you  grate  your  teeth.  You  feel  as  if  you  would 
prefer  that  some  one  would  cuss  you  out,  as  the  naval  ex- 
pression is,  rather  than  give  you  orders  in  that  mean  way. 
And  when  you  hear  these  same  mates,  one  of  whom  is  sta- 
tioned at  every  place  of  importance  where  the  men  live  and 
sleep,  roar  out  something  that  seems  to  be  a  mixture  of  the 
blast  of  a  cyclone,  the  trumpeting  of  an  elephant  and  the 
bray  of  another  animal  you  think  that  if  you  were  the 
sailorman  addressed  you'd  feel  like  saying  to  that  mate 
you'd  be  damned  if  you'd  do  it,  whatever  it  was  he  was 
ordering  you  to  do.  Why,  such  language  as  the  bos'ns' 
pipes  employ  is  more  calculated  to  inspire  profanity  than 
was  the  term  applied  by  Daniel  O'Connell  to  the  fishwoman 
when  he  called  her  out  of  her  name  by  saying  she  was  a  hy- 
pothenuse.  But  gradually  you  learn  some  of  these  calls 
too  —  there  are  no  rhymes  or  j  ingles  for  them  —  and  that 
worry  blows  over. 

The  work  on  the  bridge  also  soon  excites  your  admiration. 
When  you  are  in  squadron  or  fleet  formation  it's  a  different 
game  from  when  you  are  alone.  Then  all  you  have  to  do 
is  to  keep  your  course  and  go  sailing  along  at  the  speed  set 
for  you,  keep  your  eye  on  things,  receive  reports,  give  this 
and  that  order,  when  you  are  through  set  down  a  record  of 
what  has  happened  in  the  deck  logbook.  All  that's  simple 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

and  easy  compared  with  cruising  in  a  fleet.  With  a  fleet 
you  are  not  on  the  bridge  five  minutes  before  you  are  aware 
that  a  peculiar  kind  of  game  is  being  played.  It  is 
"  Watch  the  Flagship."  The  watch  officer,  the  signal  offi- 
cer, the  quartermasters,  the  signal  boys,  are  all  engaged  in 
the  work.  Let  a  signal  go  up  from  the  flagship.  There 
is  a  hasty  peep  through  glasses  and  then  a  hoarse  cry  for 
certain  flags,  a  rush  for  the  bunting,  a  quick  bending  of 
it  on  the  halyards  and  then  a  mad  rush  by  half  a  dozen  lads 
across  the  bridge  as  the  signals  are  hoisted.  Hurry;  be 
the  first  to  answer,  is  the  sentiment  inspiring  all.  After  the 
signal  is  hoisted  you  take  a  hasty  look  around,  and  you 
grin  as  this  or  that  ship  hasn't  got  hers  up  yet,  and  you 
say  to  yourself  that  it  was  pretty  smart  work.  When  the 
first  sign  of  a  flutter  comes  from  the  flagship  that  the 
pennants  are  coming  down  the  hoarse  yell  of  "  Haul 
down ! "  comes  like  a  thunderclap ;  and  woe  betide  the 
clumsy  signal  boy  who  gets  the  halyards  foul  and  doesn't 
have  the  signals  out  of  sight  before  the  flagship  has  hers 
hidden. 

Or  perhaps  it  is  approaching  sunset  and  the  time  comes 
to  lower  the  speed  cones  for  the  night  and  start  the  mast- 
head and  truck  lights  to  glimmering.  Intently  all  hands 
watch  the  flagship  and  at  the  first  tremor  of  the  cone  the 
boy  begins  to  haul  down.  In  a  jiffy  not  a  cone  is  to  be  seen 
at  the  yards  on  the  entire  fleet. 

Then  there  is  the  night  signalling  with  the  ardois  red  and 
white  lights.  There  flashes  from  the  flagship  a  row  of 
vertical  red  lights,  four  of  them.  "  Cornet ! "  is  the  cry. 
It  means  that  each  ship  must  turn  on  the  same  signal  as  an 
answer  to  attention  call.  Then  the  flagship  talks,  with  this 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP 

and  that  combination  of  red  and  white  lights,  all  flashed 
so  fast  that  before  the  impression  of  one  combination  fades 
from  the  eye  two  or  three  others  have  followed  and  you 
wonder  how  on  earth  any  one  can  make  them  out.  But  as 
each  one  is  flashed  a  boy  calls  out  the  letter  and  another 
writes  it  down  the  cubbyhole  where  the  navigator's  chart 
is  sheltered,  and  you  find  that  these  messages  are  recorded 
as  fast  as  a  telegrapher  could  write  out  his  clicks. 

Then  the  semaphore  is  lighted  up  and  the  arms  of  lights 
go  jiggering  this  way  and  that  way,  just  as  the  gaunt 
black  and  white  automata  do  in  the  daytime,  and  you  find 
the  boys  reading  off  the  message  as  easily  as  a  grown  per- 
son can  spell  cat  when  the  letters  are  big  and  the  print  is 
plain.  You  sometimes  wake  up  in  the  night  when  you  are 
at  anchor  and  look  out  of  your  port.  Rare  is  it  that  you 
do  not  see  a  semaphore  or  an  ardois  combination  flashing. 
When  you  ask  about  it  in  the  morning  the  officers  will  tell 
you  that  it  probably  was  the  signal  boys  talking  with  one 
another  and  that  it  is  allowed  because  it  is  good  practice  to 
let  them  gossip  when  there  is  nothing  else  going  on  and  the 
night  watches  are  long  and  tedious.  Invariably  one  boy 
will  make  the  signal  letter  of  another  ship  where  he  sus- 
pects a  friend  is  on  duty  at  the  signals  and  this  is  what  he 
says: 

"  How  is  it  for  a  game  of  flat?  "  meaning  an  unofficial 
talk. 

"  All  right,"  comes  the  answer :  "  go  ahead." 

Then  those  two  boys  chat  over  all  sorts  of  things,  chaff 
each  other,  make  appointments  for  the  first  liberty,  talk  of 
the  latest  ship  gossip,  and  all  that,  but  there's  one  feature 
about  it  that's  peculiar.  The  messages  are  always  in 


266  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

polite  form.  It's  always,  "  Will  you  kindly  ?  "  or  "  Please 
be  good  enough,"  or  something  in  that  fashion.  No  sig- 
nal boy  ever  forgets  himself  or  the  dignity  of  his  place  in 
a  game  of  talk.  Besides,  there  might  be  officers  observing 
things  and  it  is  never  nice  to  have  your  name  put  on  the 
report.  You  are  brought  up  at  the  mast  and  you  might 
get  five  days  in  the  brig  on  bread  and  water  or  something 
like  that  if  you  exchanged  language  that  was  not  seemly 
for  use  on  a  warship's  signals. 

And  then  in  bridge  work  in  cruising  there  is  that  difficult 
job  of  keeping  distances.  The  favorite  cruising  formation 
in  this  fleet  is  at  400  yards  distance  from  the  preceding 
ship.  The  Louisiana  was  fourth  in  whatever  line  was 
formed.  That  meant  1,200  yards  from  the  flagship.  Now 
the  engines  of  no  two  ships  move  the  16,000  tons  of  those 
ships  at  exactly  the  same  speed  through  the  water.  You 
may  know  theoretically  how  many  revolutions  of  the  pro- 
pellers are  needed  to  go  at  the  rate  of  ten,  eleven,  twelve 
or  even  more  knots  an  hour,  but  even  then  one  ship  will  inch 
up,  so  to  speak,  foot  up  might  express  it  better,  and  you 
have  got  to  correct  this  all  the  time  or  you  will  be  crawling 
up  on  the  quarter  deck  of  the  ship  in  front  of  you,  or 
lagging  so  behind  that  the  ship  after  you  will  be  in  danger 
of  crawling  up  on  your  own  deck. 

You  have  a  midshipman  using  the  stadimeter  all  the 
time,  every  fifteen  or  twenty  seconds  or  so,  and  then  you  are 
kept  signalling  to  the  engine  room  to  make  one  or  two  or 
three  revolutions  faster  or  slower,  until  you  get  your 
right  place  and  you  don't  have  to  fly  your  position  pen- 
nant, confessing  to  the  flagship  that  you  are  making  a 
bad  job  of  your  work  and  have  got  more  than  forty  yards 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  267 

out  of  your  position.  You  see,  coal  varies  in  its  steaming 
qualities  from  time  to  time,  and  sometimes  the  engine  room 
force  gets  a  little  slack  or  orders  get  mixed  and  it  is  one 
perpetual  struggle  to  keep  exactly  where  you  ought  to  be. 

Then  you  have  to  sail  on  the  course  announced,  and  the 
helmsman  and  quartermaster  have  to  be  continually  moving 
the  rudder  back  and  forth  to  correct  the  yaws  from  the 
seas  and  other  influences  that  throw  you  off  that  exact 
line. 

Then  there  is  the  routine  bridge  work,  giving  orders,  re- 
ceiving reports,  making  decisions,  tasting  the  food  of  the 
crew  that  is  brought  always  to  the  officer  on  watch,  sighting 
ships  and  other  things  and  always  notifying  the  Captain 
day  or  night  of  all  important  things  going  on.  Oh,  yes, 
there  is  plenty  to  do  on  a  bridge  in  a  fleet,  and  you  watch 
its  progress  with  fascination  for  hours  until  you  suddenly 
begin  to  realize  the  presence  of  that  drawback  mentioned 
first  in  this  article,  that  there  is  no  seating  place  up  there, 
and  you  go  below  to  read  or  get  some  rest  sitting  down. 

As  one  becomes  accustomed  to  the  naval  routine  there 
are  some  ceremonies  that  he  skips  as  a  matter  of  course 
and  some  that  he  does  not.  One  of  the  latter  is  the  gen- 
eral muster  of  the  officers  and  crew  on  a  Sunday  morning 
once  a  month.  Quarters  are  sounded  as  usual  and  then 
comes  the  inspection  of  the  ship  and  the  men  in  their 
stations,  while  the  band  is  playing  lively  airs.  When  this 
is  over  the  entire  ship's  company  not  engaged  in  actual 
duty  in  running  the  ship  is  summoned  aft.  The  officers 
and  their  divisions  come  to  the  quarter  deck,  and  each  officer 
reports  his  division  "  up  and  aft "  to  the  executive  officer, 
who  in  turn  reports  that  fact  to  the  Captain.  The  latter 


268  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

then  orders  the  ship's  roll  to  be  called.  The  paymaster 
steps  out  from  the  group  of  officers  with  the  roll.  On  the 
Louisiana  he  calls : 

"  Richard  Wainwright !  " 

Capt.  Wainwright  responds: 

"  Captain,  United  States  Navy." 

"E.  W.  Eberle!" 

"  Lieutenant-Commander,  United  States  Navy,"  the  ex- 
ecutive officer  responds. 

"C.  T.  Jewell!" 

"Lieutenant-Commander,  United  States  Navy,"  says  the 
navigator,  and  so  on  down  the  roll  of  officers  the  Pay- 
master proceeds,  each  man  saluting  as  he  answers  to  his 
name.  Then  the  Paymaster  retires  and  the  pay  clerk  steps 
up  and  takes  up  the  call.  He  reads  the  names  of  the 
members  of  the  crew.  As  each  man  hears  his  name  called 
he  answers  with  his  designation  on  the  roll,  John  Jones  will 
answer  "  Coal  passer,  United  States  Navy,"  and  William 
Smith  will  declare  that  he  is  an  ordinary  seaman,  and  so  on. 
As  each  man  answers  to  his  name  he  drops  out  of  the  ranks, 
proceeds  aft  and  walks  by  the  Captain,  hat  in  hand.  When 
the  name  of  a  man  on  duty  somewhere  in  this  ship,  in  the 
engine  rooms  or  the  bridge  or  elsewhere,  is  called,  the  ship's 
writer,  who  stands  beside  the  executive  officer,  says. 

"  On  duty,  sir." 

"  The  absentee  is  marked  "  accounted  for."  Men  in  the 
sick  bay  are  accounted  for  in  the  same  way.  It  requires 
almost  an  hour  to  go  through  the  nearly  1,000  names,  and 
when  it  is  all  over  the  Paymaster  reports  to  the  executive 
officer  that  all  are  present  or  accounted  for  and  that  fact 
is  duly  communicated  to  the  Captain.  By  that  time  the 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  269 

deck  is  clear  of  the  men  and  only  the  officers  remain,  and 
these  are  dismissed. 

It's  a  fine  thing  to  see  a  fine  crew  individually  and  size  up 
each  man.  When  the  President  was  on  the  Louisiana  it  is 
said  that  he  took  the  keenest  interest  in  this  personal  ap- 
pearance of  every  man  on  the  quarter  deck  in  answer  to  the 
call  of  his  name  and  showed  his  satisfaction  over  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  men  as  he  stood  beside  the  Captain  and 
watched  each  one  of  the  husky  lads  pass  by. 

Once  a  month  on  a  Sunday  morning  the  crew  is  also 
summoned  aft  to  have  the  Articles  of  War  read.  The  ex- 
ecutive officer  does  the  reading.  Here  is  propounded  the 
law  and  the  gospel  of  a  man-o'-war's  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities. The  men  are  told  what  they  must  do  and  what 
they  must  not  do.  The  punishments  inflicted  for  certain 
offences  are  read  out,  offences  in  time  of  peace  and  similar 
offences  in  time  of  war.  More  than  once  are  heard  the 
words  "  shall  suffer  death."  All  through  the  idea  per- 
vades that  there  must  be  instant  and  complete  obedience  of 
orders.  Reading  the  Articles  of  War  constitutes  a  solemn 
occasion  and  when  it  is  finished  one  realizes  as  never  be- 
fore what  a  serious  thing  it  is  to  swear  allegiance  to  Uncle 
Sam  as  part  of  his  naval  force. 

The  organization  of  the  ship's  force  soon  becomes  well 
fixed  in  the  mind.  There  is  one  head  to  it  all,  the  Captain, 
on  whom  falls  final  responsibility  for  everything,  discipline, 
safety  of  ship  and  men,  work  of  every  kind.  He  is  assisted 
by  about  twenty-five  commissioned  subordinate  officers  and 
midshipmen  and  nearly  a  dozen  warrant  officers,  besides 
numerous  petty  officers  and  their  mates.  The  ship  has 
several  large  departments  just  as  a  big  store  in  the  city. 


270  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

The  executive  officer  is  the  right  hand  man,  the  general 
manager,  if  you  please,  of  the  ship,  and  he  sees  that  the 
Captain's  orders  are  carried  out  and  he  also  keeps  the  vessel 
shipshape. 

One  of  the  departments  is  that  of  the  navigator.  An- 
other is  the  department  of  ordnance.  A  third  is  that  of 
the  engineer,  a  fourth  that  of  the  medical  officer,  a  fifth 
that  of  the  Paymaster  and  a  sixth  has  to  do  with  the 
Marine  Corps. 

The  executive  officer  not  only  runs  almost  everything  on 
the  ship  but  is  in  charge  of  all  equipment  and  stores.  He 
is  the  man  who  can  do  most  to  make  a  ship  happy  or  hellish. 
He  looks  after  the  daily  routine,  drills,  repairs,  cleaning 
up,  issuing  of  stores,  and  the  like.  He  is  the  man  to  whom 
all  other  officers,  big  and  little,  report.  He  is  busy  from 
early  morning  until  late  at  night.  When  he  isn't  keeping 
things  in  order  he  is  writing  reports.  He  almost  never  has 
time  to  sit  down  at  ease  except  at  the  head  of  the  wardroom 
table  at  meal  time,  where  he  is  a  sort  of  social  arbiter,  as 
well  as  general  manager. 

The  executive  officer  is  also  the  housekeeper  of  the  ves- 
sel. At  one  time  he  is  in  consultation  with  the  bandmaster 
over  a  music  programme  and  then  he  is  consulting  with  a 
plumber  about  a  drain.  He  runs  the  clothing  establish- 
ment and  varies  that  work  with  looking  after  the  hoisting 
of  ashes  or  the  arranging  of  liberty  parties.  His  work 
has  no  beginning  and  no  end  and  a  faithful  and  hard 
working  man  seldom  has  time  to  write  to  his  family,  to 
say  nothing  of  reading  a  book  occasionally  or  stealing 
away  to  his  room  for  a  quiet  smoke  or  a  siesta. 

The  navigator  does  the  navigating,   as  might  be   ex- 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  271 

pected.  He  relieves  the  officer  on  watch  on  the  bridge 
when  quarters  are  sounded.  He  has  charge  of  all  the 
electrical  apparatus,  and  he  is  also  instructor  in  navigation 
to  the  young  midshipmen,  who  have  to  keep  up  their  study 
and  work  along  that  line. 

The  ordnance  officer  has  charge  of  the  guns,  ammuni- 
tion, the  work  of  target  practice,  the  making  of  targets 
and  everything  that  pertains  to  shooting.  The  Paymaster 
has  charge  of  all  money  matters,  payment  of  wages,  the 
purchase  of  supplies,  providing  clothing  and  meals  for 
the  crew.  He  is  the  purser  of  the  ship.  The  medical 
officer  besides  caring  for  the  sick  is  responsible  for  sanitary 
conditions. 

In  addition  to  these  commissioned  officers  there  are  Lieu- 
tenants and  Ensigns  who  are  watch  officers;  that  is,  they 
stand  the  watch  of  four  hours  on  the  bridge  at  sea,  repre- 
senting the  Captain  in  seeing  that  the  ship  goes  all  right, 
and  four  hours  on  the  after  deck  in  port,  where  they  direct 
and  have  charge  of  all  that  is  going  on. 

There  is  besides  the  engineering  division,  which  is  a  sort 
of  world  all  to  itself. 

Then  there  are  the  warrant  officers,  the  boatswain,  gun- 
ner, electrical  gunner,  carpenter  and  machinists.  They 
are  what  might  be  called  the  general  foremen  or  superin- 
tendents. They  are  assisted  by  the  petty  officers,  of  whom 
there  are  three  grades,  and  mates  of  various  kinds,  who 
are  the  foremen  of  the  individual  gangs  of  men  in  their 
work  about  ship.  Pretty  soon  one  begins  to  learn  the  signs 
and  marks  upon  sleeves  and  other  devices  that  tell  the 
grade  of  this  man  and  that.  He  also  learns  about  sea- 
men, ordinary  seamen,  yeomen  (the  clerks  of  each  depart- 


272  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

ment),  coxswains,  jacks-o-the-dust,  lamplighters,  gun 
pointers,  hospital  attendants,  shipwrights,  the  printer  and 
the  numerous  other  classifications  into  which  the  crew  is 
divided. 

He  learns  that  the  crew  is  split  up  into  various  divisions 
and  each  division  into  various  sections.  The  officers  are 
called  division  officers  when  the  responsibility  for  handling 
the  men  by  divisions  comes  up.  Then  the  passenger  also 
learns  how  the  entire  crew  is  split  up  into  watches  so  that 
some  of  the  men  are  on  deck  and  other  duty  at  every  hour 
of  the  day  and  night.  He  soon  learns  all  about  the  ham- 
mock netting,  where  the  hammocks  of  the  men  are  stowed, 
and  he  can  even  find  the  places  where  the  ditty  boxes  of 
the  men  are  kept  when  not  in  use.  He  knows  what  things 
are  in  those  little  square  ditty  boxes,  writing  paper,  pho- 
tographs of  those  at  home,  mending  material,  brushes, 
blacking,  possessions  of  every  kind,  all  subject  to  inspec- 
tion by  the  officers. 

Having  mastered  something  of  the  personnel  of  the  ship 
it  is  surprising  how  soon  one  falls  into  the  drill  routine. 
This  is  a  more  or  less  delicate  subject  about  which  to 
•write,  for  the  reason  that  tactical  matters  and  certain  drills 
the  details  of  which  are  kept  secret  are  not  proper  subjects 
for  publication,  and  all  correspondents  with  the  fleet  have 
bound  themselves  by  written  pledge  never  to  reveal  what 
they  may  learn  about  them.  There  are  certain  drills,  how- 
ever, which  are  common  to  all  navies  and  a  matter  of  ordi- 
nary routine,  in  reference  to  which  there  is  no  inhibition, 
inasmuch  as  the  Navy  Department  has  even  authorized 
and  approved  publication  of  these  details.  You  will  find. 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP 

them  all  written  out  in  the  book  "  The  American  Battle- 
ship in  Commission,"  written  by  an  enlisted  man. 

On  certain  mornings  of  the  week  certain  drills  are  al- 
ways gone  through  with.  You  know  when  it  is  ordinary 
quarters,  when  fire,  collision  and  abandon  ship  practice  is 
to  be  gone  through  with,  when  certain  kinds  of  gun  prac- 
tice are  tried  out.  You  know  just  how  often  this  and  that 
division  goes  through  with  "  pingpong "  shooting,  the 
work  with  what  are  known  as  Morris  tubes,  the  kind  of 
shooting  that  has  superseded  to  a  large  extent  the  former 
sub-calibre  practice  on  shipboard. 

You  then  learn  all  about  hammock  and  bag  inspection 
days,  you  even  get  to  know  when  the  flagship  will  probably 
order  hammocks  or  bags  scrubbed  and  you  get  to  know  just 
about  how  often  the  clotheslines  will  be  strung  up  over 
the  fo'c'stle  and  just  how  often  bedding  will  be  hung  on 
the  rails  for  airing  and  when  it  will  be  taken  in  and  all 
that.  You  get  used  to  seeing  the  lanterns  put  in  the  life- 
boats at  night  for  emergency  use.  You  know  that  every 
half  hour  when  the  ship's  bell  is  struck  the  sentry  on  the 
quarter  deck  will  turn  toward  the  after  bridge  and  will  sing 
out: 

"  Life  buoys,  aft ;  all's  well !  " 

You  know  that  up  on  the  forward  bridge  with  every 
"  bell "  the  port  and  starboard  side  lights  will  be  reported 
burning  in  the  same  manner.  You  know  how  often  the 
marine  guard  is  changed  and  what  the  stations  are.  You 
know  that  on  Saturday  morning  there  will  be  no  quarters 
and  that  all  hands  will  be  set  to  cleaning  the  decks  with 
sand  and  holystones  and  that  the  mud,  if  a  combination 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

of  sand  and  water  can  be  called  mud,  will  be  so  thick  that 
for  nearly  all  the  morning  you  will  have  to  wear  rubbers 
if  you  want  to  get  about  in  comfort.  You  know  when 
bright  work  will  be  cleaned  and  you  know  when  the  smok- 
ing lamp  will  be  lighted,  which  means  at  just  what  hours 
smoking  will  be  permitted,  for  there  is  no  real  lamp  in 
these  days  when  nearly  everything  on  a  warship  is  run 
by  electricity. 

You  get  to  know  just  when  the  awkward  squad  of  ma- 
rines will  be  drilled  and  you  know  when  the  patent  log, 
which  is  watched  most  carefully  and  which  nearly  every- 
body scoffs  at  because  one  never  can  depend  much  upon 
it,  will  be  read.  You  know  soon  from  the  color  of  the 
water  when  you  are  on  soundings,  and  you  gather  about 
the  little  contrivance  far  back  on  the  quarter  deck  which 
unreels  the  wire  for  the  lead  that  goes  swishing  hundreds 
of  fathoms  into  the  sea  and  finally  brings  up  on  the  bottom 
and  then  records  the  depth.  You  gather  about  the  chief 
quartermaster  as  he  has  the  line  pulled  in  and  you  look 
with  him  at  the  thermometerlike  arrangement  which  by 
discoloration  shows  the  depth  of  the  water.  You  know 
just  how  often  the  temperature  of  the  sea  will  be  taken 
and  how  often  the  temperature  of  the  air  will  be  recorded 
in  the  log  and  the  height  of  the  barometer  set  down. 

And  then  perhaps  your  mind  turns  again  to  the  house- 
keeping of  this  home  of  1,000  men.  You  visit  the  cook's 
galley,  where  the  head  cook  and  several  assistants  are  busy 
night  and  day  preparing  the  meals  for  the  men  with  red- 
hot  stoves  and  great  caldrons.  You  see  the  copper  coffee 
and  tea  tanks,  the  soup  tanks,  the  bean  tanks  and  the  rest. 
You  see  the  electrically  operated  potato  paring  machine, 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  275 

just  like  the  one  used  in  the  model  kitchen  of  the  world 
at  West  Point.  You  visit  the  butcher's  shop,  where  about 
2,000  pounds  of  meat  is  served  out  and  cut  up  each  day. 

Then  you  go  to  the  scullery  and  see  the  dishwashing 
machines,  also  copied  from  those  in  use  at  West  Point  and 
all  large  hotels.  You  visit  the  bake  shop  with  its  intense 
heat  and  the  bake  rooms  store  shop  where  the  loaves  of 
bread  are  piled  up  like  so  many  cords  of  wood.  You  go 
to  the  sick  bay  and  see  a  hospital  in  operation  comparable 
favorably  in  every  way  with  the  best  appointed  hospital  on 
land.  You  visit  the  operating  room  with  its  fullest  set  of 
surgical  appliances.  You  even  go  to  the  brig  and  you  see 
where  men  can  be  confined  in  cells  or  left  out  in  the  open  so 
that  they  may  have  company  and  simply  be  restrained, 
the  latter  being  the  prevalent  form  for  light  punishments. 
You  may  attend  the  "  mast,"  where  the  Captain  every  day 
holds  his  police  court  for  light  offences,  and  you  may  read 
in  the  log  what  has  been  done  in  each  case.  You  may 
attend  the  summary  courts-martial,  where  more  or  less 
serious  cases  are  tried  by  a  board  of  officers,  but  you  must 
leave  the  room  when  the  board  goes  into  executive  session 
to  form  its  judgment  on  the  case  and  fix  the  penalty  if  the 
accused  is  found  guilty. 

You  may  see  the  tests  of  powder  and  guncotton  at  regu- 
lar intervals,  and  if  you  wish  to  go  around  at  night  with 
the  carpenter's  force  you  may  see  them  making  soundings 
of  the  hold  every  hour.  You  may  see  the  tests  of  electrical 
machinery  and  you  may  watch  the  operation  of  closing  all 
watertight  doors  every  evening  at  5  o'clock,  and  always  in 
going  in  or  out  of  port  or  in  time  of  fog.  You  can  even 
solve  that  mystery  to  every  civilian  as  to  why  there  is  g» 


276  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

sailmaker,  with  assistants,  on  a  craft  that  carries  no  sail. 
When  you  find  men  working  over  canvas  targets  for  days 
and  days,  making  awnings  and  windsails,  working  at  ham- 
mocks and  the  like,  and  when  you  realize  that  the  ship 
carries  more  cordage  than  the  old  Constitution,  you  under- 
stand it  all.  The  work  of  the  sailmaker  is  no  cinch.  You 
can  see  the  men  once  a  month  paid  off  in  long  lines,  each 
man's  signature  attested  by  the  division  officer. 

So  you  wander  about  hither  and  thither  without  any 
well  developed  plan  and  run  across  this  and  that  form  of 
employment  and  hard  daily  toil  and  you  wonder  how  it 
can  be,  with  so  much  to  do  and  so  little  time  in  which  to 
do  it,  that  proficiency  in  any  one  line  of  work  can  be  se- 
cured. Familiarity  with  it,  however,  shows  that  such  a 
condition  is  approximated,  and  you  begin  to  feel  absolutely 
confident  that  if  the  ship  ever  did  get  into  a  scrap  all  this 
work  and  drill  would  show  its  effects  at  once  in  a  way 
that  would  make  you  proud  of  the  men  and  the  ships  of 
the  navy.  A  sense  of  confident  security  comes  over  you 
and  you  soon  have  the  feeling  that  nobody  in  the  world 
can  beat  the  Yankee  sailor  man  for  man  in  fighting  and  no 
ship  of  equal  capacity  in  the  world  can  beat  the  one  on 
which  you  are  sailing  in  a  fight.  You  may  be  overconfi- 
dent, but  it's  a  comfortable  kind  of  feeling  to  have. 

You  watch  the  rivalry  among  the  various  ships  of  the 
fleet  in  such  matters  as  they  can  show  rivalry  in  during  a 
cruise  as  you  begin  to  have  confidence  in  the  one  on  which 
you  are  a  passenger.  When  target  shooting  comes  this 
rivalry  will  take  an  impressive  form.  At  present  the  riv- 
alry consists  largely  in  keeping  distances,  in  making  turns 
accurately,  in  making  and  responding  to  signals.  Every 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  277 

morning  you  watch  the  flags  go  up  at  10  o'clock,  when  the 
signals  are  hoisted  on  the  second  recording  the  number  of 
sick  and  absentees  on  each  ship.  The  officers  and  men 
read  these  flags  off  quick  as  a  flash  and  you  speculate 
about  the  condition  of  things  on  this  and  that  vessel. 

At  11:20  in  the  morning  you  watch  the  flags  go  up  to 
catch  the  change  of  time  for  all  clocks.  At  noon  every 
one  is  keen  to  see  the  flags  sent  up  telling  how  much  coal 
has  been  used  and  how  much  each  ship  has  on  hand.  Then 
come  the  flags  which  give  the  reckoning  of  the  navigator 
on  each  ship  as  to  latitude  and  longitude,  either  by  ob- 
servation or  dead  reckoning,  and  you  comment  upon  the 
variations  in  the  reports. 

So  the  routine  goes  on  and  you  get  used  to  it  and  in 
some  respects  become  part  of  it.  You  even  fall  into  a 
certain  station  at  certain  times.  The  Sun  man,  for  ex- 
ample, has  one  place  where  he  is  expected  to  report  when 
the  call  is  made.  No  other  duties  are  assigned  to  him  as  a 
passenger.  He  has  a  certain  station  when  the  abandon 
ship  drill  takes  place.  He  goes  to  his  station,  reports  and 
then  is  excused.  Otherwise  he  is  free  to  do  pretty  much 
as  he  pleases,  always  observing  as  well  as  he  can  the  little 
proprieties  on  shipboard,  which  are  simply  those  govern- 
ing the  ordinary  actions  of  gentlemen. 

Every  man  on  a  warship  has  his  little  or  big  place  that 
is  his  own  and  you  must  not  cross  its  confines  without 
permission.  For  instance,  the  starboard  side  of  the  quar- 
ter deck  is  the  Captain's.  You  don't  walk  there  unless  he 
indicates  that  he  would  like  to  have  you  join  him.  The 
port  side  of  the  deck  belongs  to  the  other  officers.  The 
Captain  almost  never  goes  there,  although,  being  the  Cap- 


278  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

tain,  he  can  go  where  he  pleases.  Each  officer's  room  is 
sacred  when  the  curtain  is  drawn.  And  so  on  through 
the  ship  there  is  a  little  piece  of  territory  sacred  to  each 
man  or  set  of  men.  The  fo'c'stle  deck  is  the  men's. 

Launch  etiquette,  however,  is  peculiar.  One  of  the  first 
things  to  learn  about  travelling  in  a  naval  launch  is  that 
it  is  a  little  ship  of  itself.  You  salute  its  deck,  so  to  speak, 
when  you  enter  it  if  you  observe  the  niceties.  The  highest 
ranking  officer  sits  in  the  stern  and  goes  into  the  boat  last. 
All  the  others  stand  until  he  seats  himself.  He  is  the  first 
to  leave  and  the  others  go  in  the  order  of  their  rank.  You 
mustn't  smoke  in  a  launch  in  the  daytime,  and  if  you  do  so 
on  the  sly  you  must  be  sure  not  to  show  your  cigar 
in  passing  the  flagship,  for  the  quartermaster  on  watch  on 
the  after  bridge  will  report  you  and  there'll  be  trouble. 
You  mustn't  smoke  at  night  except  by  permission  of  the 
ranking  officer  on  board.  If  you  see  him  light  a  cigar  or 
cigarette  all  the  rest  of  you  may  do  so.  Otherwise  you 
will  please  throw  away  your  cigar  or  cigarette  when  you 
enter  the  boat. 

As  you  go  out  to  your  ship  at  night  you  hear  the  quar- 
termaster on  some  other  ship  call  out,  "  Boat  ahoy !  "  and 
the  coxswain  of  your  boat  answers  with  a  yell,  "  Passing  1 " 
When  you  approach  your  ship  or  another  to  make  a  stop 
the  coxswain  must  be  particular  about  his  answers  to  the 
boat  ahoy  call.  If  he  has  the  President  of  the  United 
States  aboard,  as  coxswains  on  the  Louisiana  have  had 
repeatedly,  he  calls  out: 

"  United  States !  " 

If  an  Admiral  is  on  board  the  answer  to  the  hail  is : 

"Flag!" 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  279 

If  a  Captain  is  on  board  the  answer  is  the  name  of  his 
ship. 

If  other  commissioned  officers  above  the  grade  of  mid- 
shipmen are  on  board  the  answer  is  "  Aye !  aye !  "  and  if 
the  launch  contains  only  midshipmen  or  other  officers  of 
lower  grade  the  answer  is,  "  No !  No ! "  as  if  to  say  you 
needn't  bother  about  this  bunch.  If  it  has  only  enlisted 
men  on  board  the  call  is  "  Hello !  "  By  these  answers  the 
officer  of  the  desk  is  informed  as  to  who  is  approaching. 
Of  course  they  are  used  only  in  the  night,  for  in  the  day 
time  observation  will  reveal  the  situation. 

The  longer  one  remains  on  a  warship,  either  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  crew  or  as  a  guest,  two  things  become  more 
and  more  impressive.  One  is  the  reverence  for  the  quarter 
deck  and  the  other  is  the  patriotic  regard  for  the  national 
hymn,  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner."  The  quarter  deck 
seems  to  be  almost  a  holy  place.  The  officers  salute  it  as 
they  step  upon  it.  No  stain  is  allowed  to  remain  upon  it. 
If  a  man  for  instance  were  found  spitting  upon  it  —  well, 
hamstringing  would  be  the  fitting  penalty,  if  the  feelings 
of  those  outraged  by  the  performance  were  consulted. 
This  regard  for  the  deck  has  come  down  from  the  earliest 
naval  traditions.  The  soil  of  the  country  is  represented 
there.  The  flag  waves  above  it.  Sovereignty  finds  ex- 
pression there.  It  is  the  place  of  all  ceremonies,  the  one 
place  sacred  to  all  that  is  best  in  tradition,  rules  of  con- 
duct, liberty,  national  achievements  on  the  sea,  national 
hopes  and  aspirations.  It  must  never  be  profaned. 

The  sound  of  the  first  bar  of  the  national  hymn  brings 
every  naval  man  who  hears  it  to  attention.  The  mental 
attitude  is  one  of  intense  respect  as  well.  That  anthem 


280  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

never  becomes  a  bore  to  the  officers  and  men.  Its  notes 
are  a  call  to  duty  and  the  salute,  when  it  is  ended,  is  a 
public  pledge  of  fealty  to  the  flag.  No  music  is  played 
on  ship  more  carefully  and  with  more  earnest  effort  to  get 
every  shade  of  feeling  out  of  the  notes.  Reverence  for 
the  tune  is  a  living  thing,  and  after  one  has  been  on  ship- 
board for  a  week  he  begins  to  feel  ashamed  of  the  public 
indifference  to  the  tune  ashore. 

Let  one  incident  reveal  the  regard  for  the  hymn  on 
shipboard.  We  were  steaming  just  below  the  equator  on 
the  way  to  Rio  Janeiro  one  evening,  when  showers  made  it 
impossible  for  the  band  to  play  on  deck.  The  concert 
was  held  in  a  casemate  and  the  humidity  added  great  dis- 
comfort to  the  intense  heat.  The  members  of  the  crew  off 
duty  had  stripped  to  their  undershirts  and  trousers.  The 
musicians  had  also  thrown  off  their  coats.  Their  faces 
ran  with  sweat  as  they  played. 

Every  concert  ends  with  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner." 
It  was  time  to  play  it.  All  the  musicians  stood  up  and  the 
men  who  had  crowded  in  to  hear  the  music  came  to  atten- 
tion, but  not  one  move  toward  lifting  his  baton  would  the 
bandmaster  make  until  every  one  of  his  men  had  put  on 
his  coat  and  hat.  They  might  play  Strauss  waltzes  and 
even  Wagnerian  selections  in  their  undershirts,  but  no  note 
of  the  national  hymn  could  be  played  until  every  man  was 
in  dress  befitting  the  occasion.  All  this  is  nothing  unusual, 
but  it  is  impressive  to  the  man  who  sees  it  for  the  first 
time. 

So  although  there  is  no  place  for  comfortable  loafing 
and  sometimes  it  is  lonely  a  civilian  passenger  on  one  of 
these  ships  after  all  can  find  entertainment  and  other  things 


ROUTINE  OF  A  BATTLESHIP  281 

to  interest  him.  Day  by  day  he  feels  his  patriotic  impulses 
quickened.  Day  by  day  he  is  more  and  more  glad  that 
he  is  an  American  citizen.  And  when  taps  is  sounded  and 
he  knows  that  the  men  not  on  duty  are  swinging  quietly 
in  their  hammocks,  tired  out  from  their  work,  he  can  under- 
stand and  appreciate  the  full  significance  and  beauty  of 
the  refrain  which  soothes  one  and  all  with  its  soft  good- 
night : 

"  Go  to  sleep !  Go  to  sleep !  G-o  t-o  s-1-e-e-p !  " 


CHAPTER  XIII 


Manly,  Free  Entertaining  and  Ever  Fruitful  of  Self-Control —  Or- 
ganization of  the  Ship's  Company  Into  Messes  —  Chaff  Keeps  the 
Wardroom  Merry,  but  Never  Passes  the  Bounds  of  Good  Nature  — 
Something  Better  Than  Romance  in  the  Ships  of  To-Day  —  Man-o'- 
War  Bill  of  Fare  No  Longer  Includes  Lobscouse  or  Bargoo  —  Fine 
Libraries  for  All  Hands  —  The  Canteen. 

On  Board  U.  S.  S.  Louisiana,  U.  S.  Battle  Fleet, 

AT  SEA,  OFF  PANAMA,  March  6. 

SOCIALLY  the  modern  man-o'-war  houses  a  series  of 
clubs,  one  large  and  several  small  ones.     They  are 
called    messes.     The    large    club's    membership,    the 
general  mess,  consists  of  the  entire  crew,  with  the  exception 
of  the  officers.     Uncle  Sam,  through  accredited  agents  on 
board,  runs  that  club.     The  small  clubs'  membership  con- 
sists entirely  of  officers,  and  these  clubs  are  managed  by 
the  membership. 

The  officers'  clubs  are  graded  according  to  rank.  On  a 
flagship  the  Admiral  may  form  a  club  all  by  himself,  or  he 
may  enlarge  the  membership,  as  Admiral  Evans  does,  by 
having  his  staff  officers  join  his  mess.  The  Captain  is 
also  a  club  of  one  member.  The  commissioned  officers 
make  up  the  wardroom  mess.  The  midshipmen,  junior 
paymaster,  junior  officers  of  the  marines  and  the  pay  clerk 
form  the  steerage  mess.  The  warrant  officers  —  bos'n, 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR 

carpenter,  machinists,  gunners  and  the  like  —  have  another 
mess,  and  the  largest  of  the  small  clubs  is  that  of  the  chief 
petty  officers. 

With  the  exception  of  the  general  mess  all  these  clubs 
provide  their  own  supplies  of  food  and  drink.  The  Gov- 
ernment used  to  allow  every  man  on  a  ship,  no  matter 
what  his  rank,  the  sum  of  30  cents  a  day  for  rations.  The 
members  of  the  crew  in  the  old  days  formed  various  messes 
of  from  twenty  to  forty  members.  Some  of  these  messes 
drew  provisions  from  the  ship's  stores  amounting  to  the 
value  of  30  cents  a  day  for  each  man.  Others  drew  only 
three-quarters  of  the  ration  and  commuted  the  rest  of  the 
30  cents,  to  which  they  added  more  or  less  money  of  their 
own,  and  purchased  food  luxuries  from  time  to  time.  The 
allowance  of  30  cents  a  day  to  all  hands  was  made  just 
after  the  civil  war,  and  Jack  celebrated  the  event  by  a  song 
which  closed: 

They  gave  us  thirty  cents  a  day 

And    stopped    our    grog    forever. 

Jack's  grog  did  stop,  although  other  navies  still  serve 
out  liquor  regularly  to  their  sailors,  but  he  got  pretty 
good  rations.  There  were  times,  however,  when  he  did  not 
fare  well.  Sometimes  the  mess  treasurer  would  go  ashore 
with  the  mess  treasury  and  would  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  Philistines  and  the  mess  would  have  to  go  hungry  or 
borrow  from  the  kindly  disposed  members  of  other  messes. 

Nearly  ten  years  ago  Congress  cut  off  the  30  cents  a 
day  allowance  for  the  officers  above  the  rank  of  midship- 
men. The  consequence  is  that  every  commissioned  officer 
on  an  American  warship  has  to  purchase  his  own  food  and 
other  household  necessities,  That  act  of  Congress  cost 


284  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

each  officer  about  $110  a  year,  a  matter  of  at  least  three 
months  board. 

Naval  officers  must  live  well  and  must  entertain  when 
in  various  ports,  at  home  and  abroad,  and,  being  persons 
of  extremely  moderate  salaries  and  generally  with  families 
to  support,  they  must  exercise  economy  to  make  both  ends 
meet.  It  is  no  easy  task,  and  the  communal  plan  of  pay- 
ing for  food  and  the  individual  plan  of  paying  for 
drinks  is  the  best  solution  of  the  problem.  The  navy 
regulations  provide  for  the  formation  of  messes,  tell 
how  they  shall  be  managed,  and  declare  that  they  must 
show  clean  financial  sheets  to  the  Captain  at  every  quar- 
ter. They  must  not  contract  debts  which  they  cannot 

Pay- 
Suppose  a  new  ship  is  going  into  commission.     About 

fifteen  officers  below  the  Captain  must  mess  together.  The 
Government  provides  certain  necessities,  such  as  tables  and 
chairs,  and  an  allowance  of  crockery  and  linen,  but  the 
officers  must  assemble  their  own  food  and  wine  supplies  for 
a  cruise  of  say  three  years.  It  requires  capital.  Few 
officers  are  so  forehanded  that  they  have  sufficient  money 
to  lay  in  supplies  then  for  several  months.  They  are  not 
allowed  to  run  in  debt  for  them.  They  must  eat  and  drink, 
and  what  do  they  do?  They  take  advantage  of  a  clause 
in  the  regulations,  which  shows  that  there  are  many  ways 
to  kill  a  cat,  especially  if  the  cat  is  running-into-debt,  and 
which  says: 

"  When  a  vessel  is  in  a  United  States  port  and  preparing 
to  proceed  on  a  cruise  the  commanding  officer  may  sanction 
supplies  for  officers'  messes  being  received  on  board,  at 
the  risk  of  dealers,  to  be  paid  for  as  consumed,  in  not  less 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          285 

than  quarterly  instalments,  provided  the  dealer  shall  agree 
thereto  in  writing." 

This  means  that  as  soon  as  an  officers'  mess  is  organized 
its  treasurer  goes  to  certain  dealers  and  contracts  for  a 
large  quantity  of  food  supplies  on  condition  that  payments 
shall  be  made  at  certain  intervals.  There  are  many  large 
wholesale  houses  that  are  glad  to  get  that  kind  of  trade 
because  they  know  that  ultimately  they  will  receive  every 
cent  due  them.  The  members  of  the  mess  are  assessed  so 
much  a  month,  according  to  experience  in  such  matters,  and 
the  result  is  that  the  food  of  a  naval  officer  costs  him  in 
the  prepared  state  about  $1  a  day.  A  treasurer  is  elected 
once  every  month.  He  must  serve,  and  he  sits  at  the  foot 
of  the  table,  while  in  the  wardroom  mess  the  executive  offi- 
cer sits  at  the  head.  The  treasurer  may  be  elected  to  serve 
a  second  month,  but  he  cannot  be  made  to  serve  more  than 
two  months  consecutively. 

The  organization  of  the  other  messes  is  similar  to  that 
of  the  wardroom  mess.  The  wine  mess  is  composed  of  such 
officers  as  wish  to  join  it.  They  get  their  supplies  from 
a  dealer  who  backs  them,  and  to  make  up  for  breakage 
and  loss  they  charge  10  per  cent,  more  than  the  cost  prices 
of  the  wines,  beers,  waters  and  cigars  consumed.  The  offi- 
cers are  not  allowed  to  have  distilled  spirits  in  the  wine 
mess. 

When  you  have  a  dozen  or  more  men  eating  together 
three  times  a  day  and  for  weeks  confined  to  their  club- 
rooms  the  social  life  of  the  company  is  likely  to  be  beset 
with  pitfalls  and  shoals.  You  can  imagine  how  it  would 
be  on  land,  especially  if  military  rule  prevailed  in  a  club 
and  every  member  was  compelled  to  spend  all  his  time  in  it 


286  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

and  was  superior  or  inferior  in  rank  to  every  other  man. 
This  matter  of  rank  has  to  be  taken  into  consideration. 
The  members  of  the  mess  are  seated  according  to  rank. 
Still  they  are  equal  in  the  matter  of  membership  of  the 
mess,  and  between  this  matter  of  rank  and  social  equality 
some  delicate  situations  arise.  The  man  who  may  cause 
you  to  be  disciplined  sits  close  to  you  in  the  bonds  of 
supposed  good  fellowship,  and  to  preserve  the  club  feature 
of  the  mess  calls  for  a  display  of  restraint  that  develops 
character. 

It  is  a  primary  rule  of  the  military  service  of  the  country 
that  an  officer  must  be  a  gentleman.  That  means  that 
good  breeding,  consideration  for  the  feelings  of  others, 
kindness,  tact  and  all  the  other  well  known  qualifications 
used  in  defining  the  word  gentleman  must  govern  the  con- 
duct of  an  officer.  Good  form  also  requires  that  there 
must  be  no  discussion  of  subjects  in  the  mess  that  would 
lead  to  discord,  such  as  religion  or  politics.  The  result  is 
that  to  the  person  not  familiar  with  the  traditions  an  offi- 
cers' mess  on  board  a  warship  seems  to  be  a  place  for  small 
talk  or  else  for  shop  talk.  Really  there  are  few  places  in 
the  world  where  the  word  gentleman  has  a  better  exempli- 
fication. The  officers  adapt  themselves  to  the  situation  of 
enforced  close  intimacy  of  months  and  months  in  a  way 
that  excites  admiration.  You  see,  you've  got  to  live  with 
a  person  to  find  him  out.  When  you  touch  elbows  with 
him  all  the  time  all  his  little  peculiarities  stand  out  and 
all  his  annoyances  of  manner  become  conspicuous.  The 
one  social  task  on  a  ship  is  to  ignore  all  these  things  and 
try  to  have  a  companionship  as  genial  as  if  one's  good 
points  alone  were  on  view  for  a  day  or  two, 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          287 

Keeping  in  good  humor  is  the  trick.-  One  way  in  which 
this  is  done  on  ship  is  by  a  light  chaffing  that  runs  through 
the  intercourse  of  the  members  of  the  mess.  Probably 
no  more  skilful  skating  on  thin  ice  takes  place  around  any 
board  than  in  the  wardroom  of  a  warship.  Good  natured 
thrusts  and  parries  are  going  on  all  the  time,  and  just  as 
the  danger  point  of  going  too  far  in  personal  matters  is 
reached  the  talk  is  shifted  in  some  mysterious  way,  and  a 
new  tack  is  taken. 

A  favorite  means  of  fun  is  to  tackle  the  mess  caterer,  as 
the  treasurer  is  called,  and  tell  him  what  poor  food  he  is 
serving.  Now,  every  man  knows  he  is  trying  to  make  the 
mess  money  go  as  far  as  possible,  and  also  to  provide  good 
food.  He  has  a  thankless  job  and  the  members  of  the 
mess  like  to  run  him,  as  the  expression  goes.  Suppose  he 
serves  up  that  delightful  concoction  of  domestic  economy, 
meat  balls.  The  running  fire  of  comment  on  such  fare 
would  make  any  ordinary  man's  hair  gray  in  a  month. 
The  members  of  the  mess  even  go  so  far  as  to  tell  him  that 
when  he  dies  his  monument  should  be  topped  with  a  mar- 
ble representation  of  a  dish  of  meat  balls. 

Let  some  man  appear  in  evening  dress  after  word  has 
been  passed  that  for  once  such  a  costume  may  be  omitted 
at  dinner.  The  luckless  one  is  howled  out  of  the  ward- 
room and  invited  to  set  'em  up  when  he  comes  back.  Let 
a  man  make  some  wild  or  foolish  statement  or  boast;  he 
never  hears  the  last  of  it.  Perhaps  the  chief  engineer  may 
get  permission  not  to  wear  evening  dress  for  an  evening  or 
two  while  he  is  fixing  up  some  dirty  work  in  the  engine 
room.  Some  one  will  sing  out: 

"  Captain,  I  work  so  hard ;  please  excuse  me  from  dress- 


288  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

ing  for  dinner."  Forthwith  the  Fourth  Ward,  as  the 
lower  end  of  the  table  is  called,  gets  up  a  yell  and  at  a 
signal  this  is  heard: 

Bill  Johnson !   Bill  Johnson !    Bill  Johnson ! 

1  —  work  —  so  —  hard ! 
Johnson,  Johnson,  Johnson ! 
Bill  says  it  is  on  him  and  what'll  ye  have? 

Let  some  one  declare  that  he  is  on  the  water  wagon  and 
decline  to  join  in  a  friendly  glass.  Forthwith  over  his 
place  at  the  table  will  appear  the  H.  T.  T.  banner,  which, 
being  interpreted,  means  Holier  Than  Thou,  and  the  man 
says  he'll  stay  on  the  wagon  if  you  don't  object,  but  will 
the  others  please  order  what  they'd  like  at  his  expense. 

Lovesick  members  of  the  mess  get  it  unmercifully,  but 
when  the  glasses  come  on  the  table  at  dinner  some  evening 
and  the  lovelorn  man  smiles  and  announces  his  marriage 
engagement,  hearty,  indeed,  are  the  congratulations  and 
the  girl's  health  is  drunk  with  gusto.  Let  some  member 
have  a  birthday.  Again  good  wishes  predominate.  All 
hands  make  speeches.  Poems  are  presented.  Hits  and 
grinds  are  got  off.  It  all  goes  to  make  the  men  of  the 
mess  forget  that  they  are  made  of  human  clay,  the  kind 
that  grows  brittle  and  crumbles  upon  close  contact. 

Various  expedients  for  making  social  life  delightful  arc 
tried.  Take  the  Kansas,  for  instance.  Go  over  to  dinner 
there  some  night  and  you  will  find  the  usual  good  natured 
raillery  going  on  all  the  time,  but  at  the  end  of  nearly 
every  course  some  one  will  get  up  and  go  to  the  piano  and 
sing  a  song,  a  good  one,  too.  They  have  half  a  dozen 
singers  on  that  ship,  and  you  can  scarcely  spend  a  more 
delightful  evening  anywhere.  Perhaps  they  have  invited 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          289 

Father  Gleeson  of  the  Connecticut  over,  and  after  suitable 
urging  this  accomplished  chaplain  priest  will  tell  some 
Irish  stories  or  will  sing  "  The  Wearin'  o'  the  Green  "  for 
you.  And  then  the  ordnance  officer  will  probably  step  up 
and  sing  some  rare  English  ballads,  and  you  make  him 
sing  half  a  dozen  times  that  old  gypsy  song  "  Dip  Your 
Fingers  in  the  Stew." 

Perhaps  you  go  to  the  Minnesota.  That  ship  has  the 
prize  runners.  They  do  josh  a  man  for  certain.  There's 
Henry  Ball,  for  instance,  only  that  isn't  his  name.  Down 
at  one  corner  some  man  will  cry  out : 

"  Who  killed  Cock  Robin?  " 

At  the  far  end  another  will  respond: 

"  *  I,'  said  the  sparrow." 

In  the  middle  will  come  a  voice: 

"  6  With  my  bow  and  arrow.'  " 

And  down  and  around  will  go  the  details  of  the  dreadful 
tragedy  of  the  death  of  Cock  Robin.  It's  a  mournful 
tale,  but  as  the  details  are  set  forth  loudly  there  comes  a 
twinkle  in  the  eyes  of  certain  men,  and  then  after  Cock 
Robin  is  buried  decently  a  shout  will  come: 

"Who  knows  it  all?" 

Another  shout  will  answer: 

"Henry  Ball,  Henry  Ball!" 

Another  voice: 

"He  knows  it  all!" 

Still  another  voice : 

"  With  his  brass  and  gall ! " 

Mr.  Ball  has  been  guilty  of  the  assumption  of  too  much 
knowledge  and  he  must  take  his  medicine  and  grin. 

The  luckless  newspaper  man  who  is  a  passenger  on  a 


290  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

warship  does  not  escape.  He's  meat  for  these  flesh  eaters. 
The  Sun  man  mentioned  one  day  that  he  was  sorry  he 
had  missed  a  certain  piece  of  news  because  it  was  some- 
thing that  would  interest  everybody,  millions  of  people, 
in  fact. 

"  How  many  millions  of  people,  for  example  ?  "  asked 
an  innocent  voice. 

"  Well,  there  are  more  than  three  millions  of  people  in 
New  York  city  alone,"  was  the  reply.  It  was  a  mistake. 
Scarcely  a  day  has  passed  on  the  cruise  when  some  one  at 
the  wardroom  table  does  not  say  in  the  proper  tone  of  voice 
and  just  at  the  psychological  moment: 

"  Three  millions  of  people  made  happy  !  " 

That  moment  comes  often  in  port  after  some  one  has 
asked  the  correspondent  if  he  has  cabled  such  and  such  a 
piece  of  news.  He  usually  says  he  has. 

Up  rises  the  table  and  a  12-inch  roar  shakes  things. 

"  Three  millions  of  people  made  happy !  " 

A  mess  attendant  drops  a  dish  and  the  accident  starts 
a  discussion  as  to  the  large  amount  of  breakage  of  crock- 
ery. One  member  who  has  been  afflicting  the  mess  with 
the  recital  of  numerous  details  of  his  household  affairs, 
having  been  married  only  a  year  and  a  half,  protests 
against  the  carelessness  of  mess  attendants.  He  says  it  is 
an  outrage  the  way  the  mess  crockery  is  broken.  There 
is  no  excuse  for  it.  Downright  carelessness  it  is,  and  some- 
thing ought  to  be  done  about  it  right  away. 

"  Why,"  he  says,  "  do  you  know  that  in  our  married 
life  we  have  had  just  one  servant  and  I  give  you  my  word, 
she  has  not  broken  one  single  piece  of  crockery.  That's  a 
fact." 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR         291 

"  What  do  you  use  in  your  home,  Jackson  —  agate 
ware  ?  "  asks  a  rogue  across  the  way,  and  for  the  rest  of 
the  meal  the  mess  is  relieved  from  any  more  details  of 
Jackson's  domestic  affairs. 

Just  on  the  edge  of  the  Fourth  Ward  is  a  Lieutenant  who 
has  a  wonderful  baby.  The  mess  hears  all  about  that 
kid  whenever  a  fresh  mail  arrives.  The  child  must  be 
pretty  fine  and  the  mess  puts  up  with  the  narration  of  his 
superior  points  and  cunning  ways  with  a  kindly  indulgence 
and  restraint.  The  conversation  drifts  one  evening  to  the 
case  of  a  seaman  who  was  sick  all  night  and  unable  to  sleep 
and  the  big  doctor,  as  the  ranking  surgeon  is  called,  is 
telling  about  the  way  the  man  must  have  suffered  before 
he  complained.  The  father  of  the  baby  takes  the  matter 
up  at  once  and  says: 

"  Doctor,  Mrs.  Williams  writes  me  that  the  other  night 
the  baby  cried  all  night  long.  Neither  she  nor  the  baby 
got  a  wink  of  sleep.  What  do  you  do  for  a  baby  who 
cries  all  night  without  stopping?  " 

"  Take  it  out  the  next  morning  and  choke  it  to  death," 
growls  the  doctor. 

Williams  is  puzzled  at  the  shout  that  goes  up  and  while 
he  is  trying  to  fathom  its  meaning  the  mess  rises  up  and, 
pointing  its  collective  finger  at  the  big  doctor,  hurls  this 
shout  at  him: 

"  Cruel  man !     Cruel  man !     Cruel  man !  " 

Williams's  baby  never  cries  all  night  again  for  that 
mess. 

Chaffing  like  this  is  going  on  in  all  the  ships  constantly. 
At  every  opportunity  the  fun  takes  a  wider  scope.  For 
example,  on  St.  Valentine's  day  every  one  on  the  Louisiana 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

got  a  wireless  message  transmitted  from  home  in  some 
mysterious  way  through  the  flagship ;  at  least  that  is  what 
the  messages  said.  The  messages  contained  roasts  that 
set  the  wardroom  in  an  uproar.  The  Sun  man  was  noti- 
fied by  his  managing  editor  that  "  Three  millions  of  people 
were  made  happy "  by  what  he  had  written.  Peculiar 
messages  signed  Sweetheart  and  other  endearing  terms 
reached  some  of  the  younger  members.  The  proud  father 
of  a  new  baby  got  word  of  the  usual  cutting  of  the  first 
tooth.  The  man  who  was  living  on  a  "  dead  horse  "  re- 
ceived word  that  the  increased  pay  bill  might  fail. 

Taken  all  in  all,  this  chaffing  is  similar  to  a  Clover  Club, 
a  Gridiron  Club,  or  an  Amen  Corner  lambasting.  It  is 
given  and  taken  in  good  part.  Years  of  skill  have  taught 
the  naval  officer  how  far  to  go  and  when  to  stop  to  avoid 
pitfalls.  The  man  who  shows  anger  or  resentment  gets  it 
all  the  more.  There  is  a  delicacy  of  adjustment  in  it  all 
that  commands  admiration. 

Occasionally  there  will  be  something  formal  in  the  roast- 
ing process.  For  instance  on  the  Vermont  they  have  what 
they  call  Campfire  No.  6  of  the  Spanish  War  Veterans. 
Its  members  consist  of  a  correspondent  and  officers  who 
served  in  the  Spanish  war.  They  meet  at  stated  intervals. 
They  hold  long  sessions.  These  are  supposed  to  consist 
of  recitals  of  heroism,  hairbreadth  escapes,  devotion  to  duty 
and  the  like.  They  had  one  of  their  meetings  on  Decem- 
ber 31  last.  The  members  of  the  campfire  were  surprised 
to  find  a  printed  programme  of  the  evening's  entertain- 
ment. The  correspondent  member  is  J.  B.  Connolly,  the 
sea  story  writer  and  the  President's  friend.  This  was  the 
programme : 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          293 

I.  The  old  favorite 

WILD  BILL  TARDY 
familiarly  known  to  theatregoers  as  the 

BIG  CHIEF  OF  MONOLOGUE 

Mr.  Tardy  has  consented  to  recite  the  touching  poem  "My  Bullies 
Shan't  Play  Ball  To-day." 


2.  LITTLE  ABE  BRINSER 

The  peerless,  precocious  sharpshooter.    The  feature  of  this  act  will  be 
the  shooting  of  a  clay  pigeon  before  it  leaves  the  trap. 


3.  That  wonderful  Oriental  Magician 

RAJAH  PALMER 
In  plain  view  of  the  audience,  he  will  grow  a  horse  chestnut  into  a  bull 

weighing  1,728  pounds. 
N.  B.     First  time  on  any  stage. 


4.  The  blacksmiths  of  Journalism 

CONNOLLY  and  PATCHIN 
This  act  is  REALLY  great,  consisting  of  Novel  writings  and 

rhetorical  spasms. 
P.  S.     Audience  requested  not  to  go  to  sleep. 


STEVE  ROWAN 
The  clever  character  sketch  comedian, 
faithfully  portray,  noted  English  characters,  viz.: 
BEAU  BRUMMEL 
LORD  CHUMLEY 
LAWRANCE  D'ORSAY,  &c. 


6.  Those  smooth  canteen  idols 

Jack  HIGGINS  and  DOUGLASS  Spike 

In  a  screaming  farce  entitled 

SKIN'EM  AND  CHEAT'EM 

7.  The  Alexander  Salvini  of  polite  vaudeville 

L.  C.  BERTOLETTE 

The  great  emotional  tragedian  in  the 

BALCONY  SCENE  FROM  ROMEO  &  JULIET 

Positively  pathetic,  piercing  and  painful. 


294  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

The  names  of  these  officers  of  the  campfire  were  printed 
on  the  back : 

"  Roast  Master,"  C.  P.  Snyder ;  "  Libation  Master,"  L. 
M*  Overstreet ;  "  Keeper  of  the  Logs,"  F.  M.  Furlong ; 
"Keeper  of  the  Alarm  Clock,"  A.  B.  Drum;  "Bouncer," 
B.  L.  Canaga. 

If  there  is  any  man  who  can  write  verse  or  jingles  he 
has  to  exercise  his  muse  when  any  gala  day  comes.  Here 
is  what  Mr.  Connolly  produced  when  the  Vermont  crossed 
the  line: 

SUBPOENA. 
Vale  of  Seaweed,  Hall  of  Atlantus. 

HEAR   YE,   HEAR  YE. 

In  this  my  sacred  realm,  where  lively  dolphins  leap 

And  beauteous  mermaids  round  and  round  me  sweep, 

In  this  fair  sea  where  warm  south  trades 

Do  toss  the  gentle  ocean  'bove  the  whirling  blades, 

Has  come,  I  learn,  a  battleship  first  rate, 

And  at  her  peak  the  flag  of  nation  great  — 

Her  name  Vermont,  with  many  turret  guns, 

Of  twenty  thousand  horse-power  and  sixteen  thousand  tons. 

And  learning  this,  I  Neptunus,  and  of  Ocean  King, 
Do  don  my  trident  and  my  signet  ring 
To  mark  which  of  her  white  clothed  numerous  crew 
Are  known  to  me,  which  to  my  realm  are  new. 
Your  name,  strange  sir,  I  find  not  on  my  roster  — 
A  most  disgraceful  thing,  and  branding  you  imposter; 
Appear  you,  then,  that  this  foul  blackest  stain 
By  baptism  be  cleansed  in  our  domain. 

All  ye  firemen,  water  tenders  and  greasy  oilers, 
All  ye  mess  lads,  commissaries  and  chicken  broilers, 
All  ye  boat  destroyers  and  gun  busters, 
All  ye  marines,  signal  boys  and  jack-o'-dusters, 
All  ye  topsiders,  warrants  and  enlisted  men, 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          295 

No  matter  where  ye  shipped  or  when, 
All  ye  who  are  not  of  the  slush  anointed 
Appear,  I  say,  before  the  Court  appointed. 

Fail  to  appear  and  ever  rue  the  day 
My  kingly  law  you  dared  to  disobey. 

Attest:  OCTOPUS,  Executus  Officerius.    , 

January  4,  1908. 

There  is  always  a  good  deal  of  serious  conversation, 
especially  as  to  naval  matters.  There  was  the  everlasting 
discussion  of  the  pay  bill  and  its  chances  before  Congress. 
Always  there  was  talk  of  naval  history,  incidents  of  old 
cruises.  Naval  Academy  reminiscences,  and  not  a  day 
passed  without  earnest  shop  talk,  how  to  improve  this  or 
that  thing,  how  to  add  to  the  fighting  efficiency  of  the 
ship.  All  this  talk  is  from  a  lofty  and  patriotic  stand- 
point and  the  one  thing  that  impresses  the  outsider  is  the 
intense  loyalty  to  the  flag. 

By  way  of  other  diversion  there  is  always  harmless  card 
playing  of  one  kind  or  another  after  dinner  and  the  day's 
work  is  over.  Chess  and  checkers  are  played  also.  It  is 
a  mistake  to  think  that  there  is  gambling  on  warships  as 
a  rule.  Bridge  has  its  devotees.  Many  people  believe  that 
naval  officers  are  inveterate  poker  players.  They  may 
have  been  in  the  past,  but  if  the  cruise  of  the  Louisiana  is 
a  criterion  it  has  disappeared.  The  Sun  correspondent 
has  been  in  a  position  to  know  the  facts  and  he  asserts 
with  the  utmost  positiveness  that  there  has  not  been  a  single 
game  of  poker  played  by  the  officers  of  this  ship  on  the 
present  cruise.  Heaven  knows  naval  officers,  just'  like 
other  folks,  have  enough  of  human  frailties  to  answer  for, 
but  they  rise  superior  to  many  folks  in  that  they  have  not 


296  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  sin  of  poker  playing  to  explain  away,  at  least  not  in 
the  modern  conditions  of  naval  life  at  sea.  This  form  of 
gambling  may  exist  on  some  ships  but  if  what  the  officers 
of  the  Louisiana  say  is  true  it  is  rarely  nowadays  that  it  is 
practised  in  the  navy. 

Social  amenities  are  observed  most  carefully  by  these 
men.  Every  mess  has  its  social  secretary,  who  looks  after 
social  correspondence.  The  mess  has  its  social  card. 
When  a  ship  reaches  port  where  there  are  other  ships  of 
the  navy  or  where  there  are  foreign  warships  the  niceties 
of  calling  and  entertaining  etiquette  are  observed.  A  naval 
officer  would  no  more  neglect  observing  all  social  pro- 
prieties than  he  would  appear  without  his  proper  uniform 
on  the  quarter  deck. 

Many  officers  spend  a  large  part  of  their  time  in  reading. 
They  are  an  unusually  well-informed  set  of  men.  Their 
wide  travel  conduces  to  this.  Some  of  them  are  musically 
inclined  and  many  an  evening  is  spent  in  the  steerage  where 
there  is  a  piano.  It  takes  only  a  few  minutes  to  get  up 
an  improvised  orchestra  of  a  couple  of  violins,  a  guitar, 
a  mandolin  and  a  horn  or  two.  Songs  soon  begin  to  be 
heard  and  the  music  fest  often  develops  into  a  story  tell- 
ing contest  and  all  hands  turn  in  late  after  a  jovial  meet- 
ing. 

Officers*  club  life  on  warships  is  run  on  good,  whole- 
some lines.  It  is  manly,  free,  entertaining,  fruitful  of 
self-control  and  always  in  keeping  with  the  responsible 
station  of  men  who  have  sworn  to  defend  with  their  lives 
the  honor  and  integrity  of  their  country. 

There  are  those  who  lament  that  in  these  days  of  steel 
ships  and  electrical  appliances  all  the  picturesque  side  of  a 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          297 

sailorman's  life  on  a  warship  has  disappeared.  They  talk 
of  the  old  days  of  romance  and  poetry  and  sentiment 
aboard  ship.  Well,  things  have  changed  for  the  sailor- 
man,  but  those  who  know  how  much  his  creature  comforts 
have  been  improved,  how  his  health  is  safeguarded,  how 
his  mental  necessities  are  looked  after,  are  glad  with  him 
that  there  has  been  a  change.  A  warship  is  not  intended 
to  be  a  poetry  factory.  It's  a  fighting  machine  and  with 
the  best  guns  that  you  can  get  you  need  the  best  men 
available  to  shoot  them. 

No  longer  is  the  navy  the  last  refuge  of  the  scum  of 
town  and  country,  the  receptacle  of  jailbirds  temporarily 
at  large,  the  resort  of  men  not  fit  for  any  decent  toil  on 
land.  The  navy  needs  men  of  intelligence  and  good  char- 
acter, the  bright  boys  from  the  farm;  young  lads  from 
the  city,  who  otherwise  would  have  to  spend  their  lives  in 
factories.  The  navy  needs  these  men,  and  it  is  getting 
them  all  the  time.  Why?  Because  largely  there  have 
been  many  changes  from  the  old  methods,  because  no 
workingmen  in  the  world  have  better  food,  more  comforta- 
ble clothes,  more  sanitary  housing,  more  opportunities  for 
mental  improvement,  more  wholesome  recreations. 

It  is  true  that  Jack  no  longer  has  to  do  duty  as  a  cap- 
tain of  a  top,  no  more  does  he  receive  orders  to  cockbill 
spars,  square  yards,  man  the  main  clew  garnets  and  bunt- 
lines,  as  in  the  old  days.  The  old  horse  block,  as  the  plat- 
form where  the  officer  of  the  deck  formerly  stood  to  give 
his  orders  at  sea  was  called,  can  be  found  no  more  on  war- 
ships. The  old  sports  of  head  bumping,  hammer  and 
anvil  and  sparring,  old  style,  have  gone.  Here  is  what 
sparring  used  to  be: 


298  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

"  Sparring  consists  of  playing  single  stick  with  bone 
poles  instead  of  wooden  ones.  Two  men  stand  apart  and 
pummel  each  other  with  their  fists  (a  hard  bunch  of  knuck- 
les permanently  attached  to  the  arms  and  made  globular 
or  extended  into  a  palm  at  the  pleasure  of  the  proprietor) 
till  one  of  them,  finding  himself  sufficiently  thrashed,  cries 
enough." 

Pretty  good  swatting,  that. 

No  more  are  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays  the  regular 
shaving  days  with  every  man  restricted  to  two  shaves  a 
week.  No  more  are  the  sick  bays  the  most  cramped  and 
worst  ventilated  places  in  the  ship.  A  lot  of  these  things 
have  disappeared,  just  as  flogging  has  disappeared,  and  if 
the  romance  of  the  sea  has  gone  with  the  passing  of  sailing 
ships  and  the  development  of  steel  ships  into  great 
factories  and  arsenals  the  general  condition  of  Jack  has 
improved  in  inverse  proportion  and  the  country  can  say 
good-by  to  the  old  ways  with  no  regrets. 

When  the  general  mess  of  the  crew  was  formed  in  recent 
years  there  were  those  who  said  it  would  never  do.  Croak- 
ers and  obstructors  of  new  things  abound  in  all  walks  of 
life  and  at  all  times.  The  result  has  been  that  one  won- 
ders how  a  warship  ever  managed  to  get  along  without  the 
mess.  One  man  now  has  charge  of  the  feeding  of  all  the 
men.  There  are  no  longer  thirty  or  forty  messes  with 
varying  grades  of  food.  The  navy  regulations  declare 
that  so  much  material  shall  be  fed  to  the  crew  for  each 
man.  He  gets  that  allowance,  and  it  is  as  wholesome  food 
as  any  person  can  eat. 

The  Sun  correspondent  knows,  for  he  has  eaten  with 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR 

these  men.  Many  a  time  has  he  seen  members  of  the 
wardroom  mess  send  out  for  some  of  the  food  the  sailor- 
men  were  eating  at  that  moment,  the  officers  preferring  it 
to  the  food  of  their  own  mess.  Every  man  on  a  warship 
has  his  pound  and  three-quarters  of  meat  a  day.  He  must 
be  provided  with  it,  the  regulations,  say,  no  matter  what 
the  cost.  He  must  have  a  certain  allowance  of  this  and 
that,  and  a  general  steward  sees  that  it  is  made  up  into 
attractive  dishes. 

The  sailorman  no  longer  eats  his  meals  sitting  on  a  deck 
with  the  food  spread  out  before  him  on  a  piece  of  canvas. 
He  has  tables  and  benches  and  plated  knives  and  forks. 
His  dishes  are  washed  by  machinery,  his  tables  scrubbed 
until  they  are  as  clean  as  any  housewife  could  make  them. 
And  when  he  is  through  his  meal  all  are  triced  up  out  of 
the  way,  in  what  a  landsman  would  call  the  rafters,  prac- 
tically out  of  sight. 

Gone  are  the  days  of  scouse,  lob  scouse,  skillagalee, 
burgoo,  lob  dominion.  Gone  are  the  days  when  the  men 
divided  themselves  up  into  societies  for  the  destruction  of 
salt  beef  and  pork.  Slush,  as  the  duff  made  from  large 
quantities  of  beef  fat  was  called,  is  one  of  the  absent  mor- 
sels of  food.  You  don't  hear  anything  more  of  dunder- 
funk.  What  was  dunderfunk?  Well,  it  has  been  defined 
by  sea  sharks  in  this  way :  "  As  cruel  nice  a  dish  as  man 
ever  put  into  him."  It  was  made  of  hardtack  hashed  and 
pounded,  mixed  with  beef  fat,  molasses  and  water,  and  it 
was  baked  in  a  pan.  No,  the  men  nowadays  have  cottage 
pudding,  tapioca  pudding,  ice  cream,  if  you  please.  Their 
meats  are  of  the  finest.  Every  article  of  food  is  the  best 


300 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 


that  can  be  bought.  It's  plain  food,  true,  but  no  food 
was  ever  better  than  the  best  of  plain  food.  Here  is  a 
menu  of  one  week  picked  at  random  from  the  collection : 


SUNDAY. 

Breakfast. 

Baked  Pork  and  Beans. 
Tomato  Catsup. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Dinner. 
Roast  Pork. 
Apple  Sauce. 
Brown  Gravy. 
Potatoes. 
String  Beans. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Supper. 

Cold  Corned  Beef. 
Tinned  Fruit. 
Cake. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

MONDAY. 
Breakfast. 
Corn  Meal  Mush. 
Milk. 

Fried  Pork  Sausage, 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Dinner. 

Vegetable  Soup. 
Roast  Beef. 
Gravy  and  Potatoes. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 


Supper. 
Beef  Pot  Pie. 
Jelly 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Tea. 

TUESDAY. 

'Breakfast. 
Ham  Hash. 
Tomato  Catsup. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Dinner. 

Fricassee  of  Veal. 
Green  Peas. 
Potatoes. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Supper. 
Frankfurters. 
Hot  Slaw. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Tea. 

WEDNESDAY. 

Breakfast. 

Baked  Pork  and  Beans. 
Tomato  Catsup. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Dinner. 
Tomato  Soup. 
Boiled  Ham. 
Potatoes. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR 


301 


Supper. 

Hamburg  Steak. 
Onion  Gravy. 
Potatoes. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Tea. 

THURSDAY. 

Breakfast. 
Fried  Pork  Chops. 
Onion  Gravy. 
Potatoes. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Dinner. 
Roast  Beef. 
Brown  Gravy. 
Potatoes. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Supper. 

Cold  Corned  Beef. 
Fried  Potatoes. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Tea. 

FRIDAY. 

Breakfast. 
Oatmeal  and  Milk. 
Fried  Bacon. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 


Dinner. 

Pot  Roast  Beef. 
Brown  Gravy. 
Macaroni  and  Tomatoes. 
Potatoes. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Supper. 

Tinned  Salmon. 
Potato  Salad. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Tea. 

SATURDAY. 

Breakfast. 

Beef  Stew. 
Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Dinner. 
Bean  Soup. 
Boiled  Pork. 
Pickles. 
Potatoes. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Coffee. 

Supper. 

Bologna  Sausage. 
Rice  Pudding. 
Jelly. 

Bread  and  Butter. 
Tea. 


The  menus  of  every  ship  have  to  be  forwarded  to  the 
flagship  every  week  so  that  the  Admiral  may  observe 
whether  the  men  have  had  the  proper  kind  of  food.  No, 
Jack  no  longer  kicks  seriously  about  his  food  on  a  war- 
ship. No  workingman  in  the  world  gets  better. 

Take  the  libraries  nowadays.     There  are  two  of  them 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

on  every  ship,  the  ship's  library  and  the  crew's  library. 
The  officers  use  the  ship's  library.  It  is  scattered  about 
the  officers'  quarters  in  various  cases,  some  in  the  ward- 
room, some  in  the  Captain's  or  Admiral's  quarters,  some 
in  the  steerage.  There  are  about  thirty  classifications, 
dealing  with  technical  subjects,  with  history,  travel,  ad- 
venture, poetry,  a  limited  amount  of  fiction  and  so  on. 
The  crew's  library  is  three  times  larger.  There  is  a  great 
deal  of  history  and  travel  and  adventure  and  some  science 
in  it,  but  the  larger  part  is  made  up  of  as  good  fiction 
as  the  English  language  provides.  The  classic  authors 
are  represented,  but  a  large  amount  of  the  newer  fiction  is 
also  represented.  You  find  Kipling,  Anthony  Hope,  E. 
W.  Hornung,  W.  W.  Jacobs,  Jack  London,  Weir  Mitch- 
ell, Booth  Tarkington,  S.  J.  Weyman,  along  with  Bret 
Harte,  Mark  Twain,  R.  L.  Stevenson,  Scott,  Thackeray, 
Charles  Reade,  Washington  Irving,  Bulwer-Lytton  and 
so  on. 

And  the  men  read  these  books !  Far  into  the  night  you 
will  come  across  some  youngsters  whose  hammock  is  near 
a  light  and  who  cannot  sleep  straining  his  eyes  in  reading 
some  book.  At  any  time  when  the  smoking  lamp  is  lit  and 
the  men  have  knocked  off  work  if  you  walk  through  the 
ship  you  will  probably  find  150  men  reading  books.  Their 
association  with  the  best  fiction  and  best  history  is  con- 
stant. They  discuss  these  books  and  they  get  a  fund  of 
information  that  no  other  grade  of  men  in  a  factory  re- 
ceive. 

And  how  was  it  in  the  old  days?  Melville  tells  about 
it  in  his  "  White  Jacket,"  the  book  that  relates  to  the  old 
frigate  United  States  in  1843.  He  says ; 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR         303 

"  There  was  a  public  library  on  board  paid  for  by  Gov- 
ernment and  entrusted  to  the  custody  of  one  of  the  marine 
corporals,  a  little,  dried  up  man  of  a  somewhat  literary 
turn.  He  had  once  been  a  clerk  in  a  post  office  ashore,  and 
having  been  long  accustomed  to  hand  over  letters  when 
called  for  he  was  now  just  the  man  to  hand  over  books. 
He  kept  them  in  a  large  cask  on  the  berth  deck,  and  when 
seeking  a  particular  volume  had  to  capsize  it  like  a  barrel 
of  potatoes.  This  made  him  very  cross  and  irritable,  as 
most  all  librarians  are.  Who  had  the  selection  of  these 
books  I  do  not  know,  but  some  of  them  must  have  been  se- 
lected by  our  chaplain,  who  so  pranced  on  Coleridge's 
'  High  German  Horse.'  " 

"  Mason  Good's  *  Book  of  Nature,'  a  very  good  book,  to 
be  sure,  but  not  precisely  adapted  to  literary  tastes,  was 
one  of  these  volumes ;  and  Macchiavelli's  '  Art  of  War,' 
which  was  very  dry  fighting ;  and  a  folio  of  Tillotson's  ser- 
mons, the  best  of  reading  for  divines  indeed,  but  with  little 
relish  for  a  main  top  man;  and  Locke's  Essays,  incom- 
parable essays,  everybody  knows,  but  miserable  reading  at 
sea ;  and  Plutarch's  Lives  —  superexcellent  biographies, 
which  pit  Greek  against  Roman  in  beautiful  style,  but  then, 
in  a  sailor's  estimation,  not  to  be  mentioned  with  the  lives 
of  the  Admirals ;  and  Blair's  Lectures,  University  Edition, 
a  fine  treatise  on  rhetoric,  but  having  nothing  to  say  about 
nautical  phrases,  such  as  *  splicing  the  main  brace,'  c  pass- 
ing a  gammoning,'  '  puddin'ing  the  dolphin,'  and  6  mak- 
ing a  carrick-bend,'  besides  numerous  invaluable  but  un- 
readable tomes  that  might  have  been  purchased  cheap  at 
the  auction  of  some  college  professor's  library." 

The  sailorman  has  lots  of  recreation  nowadays.     Three 


304  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

times  a  week,  Wednesday,  Saturday  and  Sunday  nights, 
the  band  plays  for  him  on  the  fo'c's'le  deck.  He  seizes 
his  mate  and  he  dances  wildly,  madly  or  slowly  and  grace- 
fully, as  he  pleases.  You  see  as  fine  dancing  there  as  you 
can  see  in  a  fashionable  ballroom  in  any  capital  of  the 
world.  He  has  his  cards,  his  pets  —  dogs,  cats,  birds  — 
and  he  foregathers  from  time  to  time  to  sing.  He  likes  to 
box  and  play  baseball  and  to  row,  and  the  Government  pro- 
vides for  suitable  athletic  equipment  for  his  sports.  He  loves 
a  boxing  contest  on  the  quarter  deck  with  all  the  officers 
looking  on  and  the  rules  of  the  ring  enforced  rigidly.  It 
gladdens  his  heart  to  applaud  and  to  hear  others  applaud, 
and  he  was  much  rejoiced  in  Callao  when  several  Peruvians 
who  were  the  guests  of  the  New  Jersey's  wardroom  at  a 
boxing  contest,  sang  out  in  their  delight : 

"Viva  la  box  fight!" 

Jack  laughed  at  that  long  and  hearty.  He  loves  rowing 
contests  and  he  and  his  mates  on  a  single  ship  frequently 
wager  as  much  as  $10,000  on  their  own  crew.  Jack  goes 
broke  for  months  sometimes  on  these  races.  Sometimes  a 
man  will  bet  from  $500  to  $1,000  or  $1,200  on  his  crew 
and  he'll  be  all  in  for  months  afterward,  but  he  likes  a  run 
for  his  money.  When  he  wins  all  hands  know  it  at  the 
next  liberty  and  Jack  and  his  friends  have  trouble  in  toe- 
ing a  seam,  but  Lord !  what  a  good  time  they've  had ! 

Then  there  is  the  ship's  canteen  that  ministers  to  Jack's 
comfort.  The  canteen  is  not  like  what  an  army  canteen 
used  to  be,  a  place  where  drinks  were  served,  but  it's  a  coun- 
try store.  In  it  Jack  can  buy  tobacco,  stationery,  soap, 
little  articles  of  clothing,  thread  and  needles,  knickknacks 
—  and  above  all  things  else,  candy.  You  see,  Jack  gets 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          305 

nothing  to  drink  but  water  in  various  forms  on  ship  and  he 
runs  to  sweets.  Many  a  ship  carries  away  with  her  on  a 
cruise  two  or  three  tons  of  candy  in  starting  out.  In  less 
than  six  weeks  the  Louisiana's  canteen  had  sold  more  than 
$2,000  worth  of  candy  to  the  crew. 

The  canteen  makes  a  small  profit  so  as  to  overcome  losses 
by  the  deterioration  of  goods,  but  all  its  wares  are  sold 
practically  to  Jack  at  cost  price.  It  is  for  his  benefit  ex- 
clusively that  he  gets  the  best  quality  of  goods  at  the  low- 
est prices.  It  is  under  charge  of  the  ship's  paymaster  and 
it  is  financed  much  as  the  ship's  messes  are.  What  profits 
there  are  go  to  swelling  the  athletic  fund  or  perhaps  to 
provide  for  a  minstrel  show ;  anyhow,  it  all  goes  toward 
making  Jack's  life  on  ship  as  comfortable  as  possible. 

So  Jack  eats  well  and  sleeps  well  and  he  works  and  plays 
with  zest.  He  sings  and  dances  and  perhaps  he  gets  more 
fun  out  of  a  minstrel  show  on  board  than  any  other  thing. 
In  Callao  harbor  the  Louisiana  had  its  minstrel  show.  On 
the  after  part  of  the  quarter  deck  was  a  stage  about  twenty 
by  twenty-five  feet.  It  had  flies  and  wings  and  all  the  up- 
per and  lower  entrances.  It  had  three  drop  curtains,  one 
of  them  with  "  Asbestos "  painted  on  it.  It  had  foot- 
lights and  spotlights.  It  had  red  lights  with  "  Exit  "  and 
"  Fire  Escape  "  lettered  on  them.  Every  bit  of  the  stage 
scenery  was  painted  by  expert  men  on  the  ship.  Every  bit 
of  electric  lighting  was  done  by  the  ship's  crew.  It  was  as 
creditable  as  most  of  the  scenic  and  stage  work  in  a  large 
theatre.  The  quarter  deck  was  all  shut  in  and  canopied 
and  you  could  scarcely  realize  that  you  were  not  in  a  mod- 
ern theatre. 

All  the  crew  attended  the  show.     Delegations  of  twenty- 


WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

five  men  from  each  of  the  battleships  in  the  fleet  came. 
They  were  met  at  the  port  gangway  by  ushers  who  had  re- 
served seats  for  them.  Programmes,  the  woodcuts  for 
which  were  made  on  board  —  and  the  entire  printing  was 
done  there  as  well  —  were  handed  out  to  each  person  as  he 
took  his  place.  The  officers  were  given  programmes  at  the 
starboard  gangway  by  pages  in  bolero  and  plush  breeches 
and  silk  stockings.  An  old  naval  custom  was  revived  by, 
having  side  boys  with  lanterns. 

It  was  the  old  fashioned  minstrel  show,  with  end  men  and 
jokes  and  songs  for  the  first  part  and  stunts  and  sketches 
for  the  second.  More  than  1,600  men  looked  on.  Imag- 
ine 1,600  men  seated  in  comfort  on  a  quarter  deck!  My, 
how  the  ships  of  the  navy  have  grown !  The  12-inch  guns 
were  tilted  down  and  seats  covered  with  flags  built  on  them. 
The  turret  was  utilized  for  a  gallery.  The  after-bridge 
took  the  place  of  nigger  heaven.  There  was  no  sign  of  a 
warship  about,  all  the  implements  of  trade  being  hidden. 
Only  the  uniforms  of  the  men  suggested  the  thought  of  a 
navy ;  those  and  the  grinds  on  the  officers  and  ships. 

The  singing  was  quite  as  good  as  that  of  any  travelling 
minstrel  show.  The  company  had  a  manager,  secretary, 
treasurer,  pianist,  electrician,  stage  manager,  master  of 
properties,  costumer,  carpenter  and  all  the  rest  of  a  regular 
theatrical  outfit,  and  all  hands  voted  it  as  good  as  any- 
thing you  could  see  in  that  line  on  any  stage. 

And  when  it  was  all  over,  flags  were  dropped,  ropes 
loosened  and  the  trappings  came  down  in  a  jiffy,  just  as  a 
circus  packs  up  its  effects.  The  visitors  were  marched  to 
certain  gangways.  They  went  down  as  their  boats,  which 
were  lying  alongside,  were  called,  and  in  thirty  minutes  all 


SOCIAL  LIFE  ON  A  MAN-O'-WAR          307 

the  guests  were  gone,  all  the  trappings  put  away  and  the 
routine  of  ship  life  was  in  progress  as  if  there  never  had 
been  the  slightest  interruption.  But  Jack  had  had  a  night 
of  nights. 

It  is  by  making  Jack  happy  and  comfortable,  giving 
him  wholesome  pleasure  as  well  as  wholesome  food,  that  the 
best  fighting  results  are  obtained.  There  is  no  better  sailor 
afloat,  mentally  or  morally.  He  is  intelligent,  willing  and 
he  loves  his  flag.  Of  course,  he's  human.  He  will  streak 
for  a  saloon  when  he  gets  liberty.  He  spends  his  money 
on  shore  foolishly.  He's  a  child  in  many  respects,  for 
Uncle  Sam  looks  after  him  on  shipboard  paternally,  tells 
him  what  to  wear  and  when,  gives  him  his  food  in  scientific 
measure,  looks  after  his  health,  provides  amusement  and 
mental  diversion  for  him.  He  gets  in  the  brig  occasionally 
and  he's  mighty  sorry  for  it.  He  gets  scolded  now  and 
then,  but  he  tries  to  do  his  duty.  Watch  his  enthusiasm 
when  target  practice  approaches  and  see  him  sneak  out  be- 
fore breakfast  and  do  extra  work  just  for  the  love  of  it 
and  you'll  appreciate  what  it  means. 

Growl?  Lord  bless  your  soul!  he  wouldn't  be  happy 
and  the  ship  wouldn't  be  happy  and  the  officers  would  be 
alarmed  if  he  didn't  growl.  But  sulk !  Not  on  your  life ! 
He  wants  his  ship  to  get  the  record  in  shooting,  rowing, 
boxing,  economic  consumption  of  coal,  signal  work,  speed 
and  every  other  contest  that  enters  into  fleet  life.  He'll 
back  his  money  on  his  own  ship  and  when  he  fights  he's 
willing  to  go  down  fighting  with  her  if  that's  to  be  his 
fate. 

Dibdin's  ballads  of  the  true  English  sailor  are  as  true  to- 
day as  when  they  were  written,  a  century  ago.  And  thejr 


308  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

are  as  true  of  the  American  sailor  as  of  the  English.    Here 
is  one  that  sums  up  Jack's  seagoing  life : 

Jack  dances  and  sings  and  is  always  content; 

In  his  vows  to  his  lass  he'll  ne'er  fail  her. 
His  anchor's  a-trip  when  his  money's  all  spent; 

And  this  is  the  life  of  a  sailor. 

And  so  you  see  that  a  warship  may  have  guns  and  mag- 
azines and  ponderous  engines  and  coal  bunkers  and  deep 
recesses  in  her  hold,  and  her  purpose  may  be  to  destroy  and 
kill,  but  with  it  all  there's  good  fellowship  abounding  in 
her  gradation  of  compartments,  and  perhaps  on  reading 
this  you  get  some  indication  of  what  was  meant  in  the  be- 
ginning of  this  article  by  the  statement  that  socially  a  war- 
ship houses  a  series  of  clubs.  Good  clubs  they  are,  too  I 


CHAPTER  XIV 

END  AND    LESSONS   OP    THE    CRUISE   TO    THE    PACIFIC 

IT  JT  TITH  the  arrival  of  the  battleship  fleet  at  San 
^/^/  Francisco  on  May  6,  1908,  the  longest  cruise 
ever  made  by  a  fleet  of  battleships  of  any  navy 
came  to  an  end.  About  one  month  was  consumed  by  brief 
stays  in  various  California  anchorages  on  the  way  from 
Magdalena  Bay  to  San  Francisco.  On  the  long  cruise  the 
fleet  was  reviewed  by  the  Presidents  of  four  republics  — 
President  Roosevelt,  at  Hampton  Roads ;  President  Penna, 
at  Rio  Janeiro ;  President  Montt,  at  Valparaiso,  and  Pres- 
ident Pardo,  at  Callao.  According  to  the  log  of  the 
Louisiana,  on  which  the  Sun's  correspondent  sailed, 
the  fleet  cruised  13,738.7  knots,  or  in  round  numbers  13,- 
750  sea  miles.  Estimates  of  the  exact  distance  vary  on  the 
sixteen  battleships,  according  to  the  calculation  of  individ- 
ual navigators.  Some  days'  runs  were  estimated  by  dead 
reckoning,  and  there  was  no  way  of  determining  to  a  knot 
the  distance  that  the  ships  travelled. 

The  elapsed  time  from  leaving  Hampton  Roads  on  De- 
cember 16  to  dropping  anchors  in  San  Francisco  harbor  on 
May  6,  was  141  days  7  hours.  The  actual  time  of  cruis- 
ing for  the  13,750  knots  voyage  was  61  days  19  hours. 
Practically  80  days  (79  days  12  hours,  to  be  exact)  were 
consumed  in  various  ports.  Of  this  time  a  period  of  30 
days  was  occupied  largely  in  practice  at  Magdalena  Bay. 

309 


310  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

In  Trinidad  there  was  a  stay  of  6  days ;  in  Rio,  10 ;  Punta 
Arenas,  7;  Callao,  9;  or  sixty-two  days  in  round  numbers. 
The  rate  of  steaming  was  practically  10  knots.  Occa- 
sionally 11  and  even  12  knots  was  tried;  several  times  speed 
was  reduced  to  8  knots  and  once  or  twice  to  6  for  experi- 
mental purposes  or  because  of  some  mishap  to  a  ship. 
Such  accidents  were  few  and  at  most  only  delayed  the 
fleet  an  hour  or  two. 

Allowing  reasonable  time  to  coal  in  foreign  ports  and 
eliminating  the  time  for  target  practice  at  Magdalena  Bay 
and  the  various  stops  along  the  California  coast,  the  trip 
could  have  been  made  easily  at  10  knots  steaming  in  less 
than  eighty  days.  One  day  could  have  been  saved  at  Trin- 
idad, 5  at  Rio,  2  at  Punta  Arenas  and  4  at  Callao.  These 
with  30  days  at  Magdalena  Bay  and  21  spent  in  California 
stopping  places  make  63  days  which  could  have  been  cut 
off  the  elapsed  time  if  the  movement  had  been  purely  mili- 
tary. 

These  data  are  valuable  as  showing  what  an  American 
battleship  fleet  can  do  if  called  upon  in  the  way  of  steam- 
ing long  distances.  All  the  strictly  unnecessary  time 
spent  in  foreign  and  home  ports,  with  the  exception  of 
Magdalena  Bay,  was  occupied  with  social  duties  and  pleas- 
ures. The  Government  now  knows  it  would  take  seventy- 
eight  days  without  undue  speeding  to  send  a  fleet  of  battle- 
ships from  Hampton  Roads  to  San  Francisco,  providing 
all  coaling  arrangements  are  made  in  advance. 

The  longest  run  of  the  cruise  was  from  Trinidad  to  Rio, 
a  distance  of  3,225  miles  as  the  fleet  sailed  it,  occupying 
thirteen  days  twenty  hours.  There  was  a  strong  head 
wind,  a  southeast  trade  wind.  This  and  the  persistent 


LESSONS  OF  THE  CRUISE  311 

Amazon  current  caused  the  fleet  to  sail  far  out  to  the  east- 
ward along  the  northern  coast  of  South  America.  The 
next  longest  run  was  from  Callao  to  Magdalena  Bay,  3,025 
miles,  occupying  twelve  days  twenty-two  hours.  The  trip 
from  Punta  Arenas  to  Callao,  although  only  2,693  miles 
long,  occupied  twelve  days  ten  hours,  largely  because  the 
fleet  was  slowed  down  on  the  way  for  nearly  forty-eight 
hours  to  obtain  data  as  to  slow  cruising,  and  also  because 
of  a  fog.  Slow  speed  was  maintained  for  some  time,  in 
order  not  to  enter  Valparaiso  harbor  in  advance  of  schedule 
time. 

This  trip  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific  was  supposed  by  peo- 
ple generally  to  be  one  of  hazard  and  great  daring.  From 
the  cruising  standpoint  it  was  almost  a  picnic.  There  was 
no  bad  weather  to  speak  of.  Off  the  River  Plata  there  was 
half  a  storm  one  morning  and  the  ships  were  shaken  up  a 
little  as  they  emerged  into  the  Pacific  from  the  Magellan 
Strait,  always  a  bad  place.  Not  once,  however,  were  table 
racks  used  on  the  ships  and  the  heaviest  roll  the  Louisiana 
experienced  was  less  than  twelve  degrees.  Other  ships 
would  probably  tell  a  similar  story. 

There  may  have  been  some  element  of  danger  in  passing 
through  the  Magellan  Strait,  but  otherwise  the  cruise  was 
a  summer  jaunt  over  smooth  seas  and  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  time  under  blue  skies.  There  were  four  days  of  in- 
termittent fog  after  entering  the  Pacific  and  there  were 
one  morning  and  two  hours  one  afternoon  of  fog  on  the 
Atlantic  a  day  or  two  before  the  Strait  of  Magellan  was 
reached.  The  passage  through  the  strait,  the  last  thirty 
miles  of  which  was  sailed  through  quite  a  thick  fog,  was 
accomplished,  according  to  commanding  officers  generally, 


312  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

with  greater  ease  and  less  real  danger  than  entering  New 
York  harbor  and  sailing  up  the  Hudson  River  to  the  usual 
anchorage  there. 

The  trip  was  one  of  surprises.  The  coolness  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Trinidad  was  as  great  a  surprise  as  was  the  ex- 
uberant welcome  of  Brazil  and  other  foreign  countries. 
Rio's  welcome  was  the  most  demonstrative,  Callao's  prob- 
ably the  most  heartfelt,  that  of  Punta  Arenas  the  most  un- 
expected. There  were  two  highly  spectacular  events  on  the 
cruise  —  the  welcome  at  sea  on  the  morning  of  January 
29  by  a  squadron  of  the  Argentine  navy  off  the  mouth  of 
the  River  Plate  and  the  entrance  to  and  exit  from  Val- 
paraiso harbor  on  the  afternoon  of  February  14.  The 
American  and  Argentine  fleets  exchanged  national  salutes 
on  the  high  seas.  Many  naval  officers  believe  this  was  the 
first  time  such  an  act  of  courtesy  ever  took  place. 

No  naval  officer  ever  remembered  such  a  ceremonious  call 
as  was  made  at  Valparaiso.  With  the  Chilean  ensign  at  the 
fore  the  ships  made  a  great  curve  in  the  shape  of  a  cres- 
cent in  the  harbor.  On  entering  the  port  the  ships  fired  a 
national  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  in  unison.  On  leaving 
the  harbor  each  ship  fired  twenty-one  guns  as  a  personal 
salute  to  Chile's  President,  who  had  come  out  to  review  the 
parade.  The  day  was  glorious,  the  hills  were  crowded  with 
people,  the  shipping  in  the  harbor  was  all  dressed.  Every 
naval  officer  agreed  that  it  was  the  most  spectacular  naval 
parade  he  ever  saw.  All  were  glad  that  this  happened  in 
a  port  of  Chile,  a  country  which  not  long  ago  was  not  over- 
friendly  to  us.  The  messages  exchanged  between  Admiral 
Evans  and  the  President  and  other  officials  of  Chile  were 
extremely  cordial,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  visit 


LESSONS  OF  THE  CRUISE  513 

to  Valparaiso  was  highly  beneficial  in  fully  restoring  good 
feeling  between  the  countries. 

All  naval  officers  are  of  opinion  that  professionally  the 
cruise  was  of  great  benefit  both  to  the  men  and  the  ships. 
It  was  absolutely  true,  as  Admiral  Evans  telegraphed  the 
Navy  Department  from  Magdalena  Bay,  that  the  vessels 
were  in  better  condition  when  they  arrived  there  than  when 
they  left  Hampton  Roads.  They  had  been  shaken  down, 
as  the  expression  goes.  They  had  become  a  coherent  force. 
A  large  quantity  of  work  had  been  done  on  each  of  them 
such  as  is  usually  done  in  navy  yards.  The  longer  the 
cruise  continued  the  more  the  truth  of  the  naval  saying 
that  "  the  place  for  ships  to  be  is  at  sea,  not  in  navy 
yards  "  seemed  confirmed. 

A  large  part  of  the  routine  work  on  the  ships  was  taken 
up  with  drills  preliminary  to  target  practice.  The  pur- 
pose of  a  warship  is  to  shoot;  it  is  a  truism  to  say  it. 
Hence  the  large  amount  of  time  given  to  learning  how  to 
shoot  accurately  and  quickly  was  precisely  what  was  needed 
on  the  fleet.  The  value  of  all  this  work  will  become  known 
when  the  Navy  Department  decides  to  make  public  such  of 
the  records  as  may  be  deemed  desirable  regarding  the  work 
at  Magdalena  Bay.  One  may  not  speak  freely  of  that 
work,  but  it  is  not  beyond  the  limits  of  propriety  to  say 
that  the  American  people  will  not  be  ashamed  of  the  men 
behind  the  guns  when  even  partial  results  are  made  known. 

The  voyage  revealed  the  cruising  qualities  of  the  ships 
and  many  lessons  were  learned  from  incidental  mishaps  — 
as  many  lessons  were  learned  at  Magdalena  Bay  from  sim- 
ilar causes  as  to  the  way  to  improve  target  shooting. 

On  the  Atlantic  coast  there  were  frequent  minor  break- 


314  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

downs,  boilers,  condensers,  steering  engines  and  the  like 
needing  repairs.  All  these  incidents  showed  not  only  how 
and  where  mishaps  were  likely  to  occur,  but  showed  that  it 
was  possible  to  make  repairs  in  such  cases  at  sea.  Al- 
though several  ships  dropped  out  of  the  column  at  various 
times  only  once  was  the  fleet  slowed  down,  and  then  only 
for  a  few  hours  while  repairs  were  going  on.  The  ships 
might  fly  "  breakdown  "  pennants  but  they  kept  up  right 
along.  On  the  Pacific  coast  there  were  very  few  mishaps, 
and  these  chiefly  relating  to  steering  gear.  One  of  the 
ships  had  a  cylinder  accident  coming  up  to  Santa  Barbara 
roadstead,  but  the  ship  kept  right  along  in  the  column. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  if  pleasure  stops  had  not  been 
made  it  would  have  been  comparatively  easy  to  take  the 
fleet  right  on  around  the  world  without  docking  or  sending 
them  to  a  navy  yard  for  repairs.  Many  officers  in  the 
fleet  regret  that  such  a  course  was  not  adopted,  once  it  was 
decided  to  have  the  fleet  encircle  the  globe,  so  as  to  make  a 
record  such  as  the  naval  world  has  scarcely  dreamed  of. 

The  trip  has  also  been  valuable  in  determining  not  only 
the  cruising  capability  of  the  ships  but  also  the  best  cruis- 
ing speed.  Although  it  was  proved  that  the  ships  could  go 
faster  than  ten  knots  it  was  found  that  from  ten  to  eleven 
knots  was  the  most  trustworthy  speed  to  be  maintained. 
You  could  depend  upon  ships  at  that  speed.  Valuable 
data  as  to  coal  consumption  and  wear  and  tear  on  ma- 
chinery have  also  been  secured.  From  the  engineering 
standpoint  Uncle  Sam  has  learned  now  exactly  what  his 
ships  can  do  in  sustained  steaming  under  favorable  condi- 
tions of  weather. 

By  way  of  contrast  between  the  fine  cruising  record  of 


LESSONS  OF  THE  CRUISE  515 

the  battleship  fleet  and  that  of  the  Russian  fleet  on  its  way 
to  Japan,  one  should  read  the  diary  of  one  of  the  Russian 
naval  officers  who  sailed  under  Rojestvensky,  which  was 
published  about  a  year  ago.  It  had  this  to  say  about  the 
Russian  ships: 

"  There  are  continual  mishaps  to  the  various  ships. 
One  gets  sand  in  her  valves.  Although  six  miles  off  shore, 
she  must  have  scraped  a  shoal.  Another  gets  hot  bearings 
and  the  whole  fleet  is  stopped.  Another  breaks  her  con- 
densers, another  smashes  her  propeller  blade,  another 
breaks  her  piston  rod.  With  most  of  them  the  steering 
gear  is  continually  getting  out  of  order.  Naval  construc- 
tors are  in  demand  night  and  day." 

Nothing  of  that  kind  happened  with  the  American  ships. 
They  were  sent  out  to  cruise  and  they  did  cruise,  accidents 
in  no  way  interfering  with  their  steady  progress. 

The  effect  on  the  men  was  most  beneficial.  They  got 
the  sea  habit,  so  to  speak.  They  were  in  splendid  health. 
You  could  almost  see  youngsters  growing  robust  from  day 
to  day.  Discipline  improved  all  the  time.  The  men,  like 
the  ships,  were  shaken  down  into  a  cohesive  force,  with 
wholesome,  fresh,  American  youngsters,  hundreds  of  them 
right  off  the  farm,  as  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  fighting 
force.  They  are  a  fine  set  of  men,  and  no  fighting  force  in 
the  world  can  compare  with  them  in  what  is  called  morale. 
In  every  port  their  conduct  elicited  enthusiastic  commenda- 
tion from  the  authorities  high  and  low.  They  honored 
their  uniform.  Contrast  this  also  with  the  conduct  of 
the  Russian  crews,  as  the  Russian  naval  officer  already 
quoted  records  in  his  diary: 

"  A  transport,  the  Malay,  is  largely  loaded  with  luna- 


316  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

tics.  She  is  about  to  return  to  Russia  with  lunatics, 
drunkards,  invalids  and  men  deported  for  crimes.  The 
crews  are  all  hard  cases,  beachcombers  and  the  like,  picked 
up  in  the  Madagascar  ports.  All  the  officers  carry  loaded 
revolvers ;  mutiny  breaks  out  among  the  lunatics  and  other 
prisoners;  the  officers  suppress  it  with  slaughter." 

It's  many  a  year  since  an  American  naval  officer  carried 
a  loaded  revolver  because  of  fear  of  his  men.  The  scum 
of  the  country  is  not  found  in  the  American  navy  these 
days.  No  brighter,  more  hard  working,  loyal  men  in  the 
world  are  to  be  found  than  those  behind  the  guns  on  the 
Atlantic  fleet,  and  when  the  ships  left  Magdalena  Bay  no 
crews  on  any  warships  in  the  world  were  in  more  efficient 
fighting  shape. 

Although  much  has  been  said  about  the  need  of  a  hos- 
pital ship  to  accompany  the  fleet,  and  the  Relief  did  join 
the  ships  at  Magdalena  Bay,  the  truth  of  the  matter  is  that 
each  of  the  ships  cared  for  its  sick  adequately  on  the  way 
around.  Surgeon-General  Rixey  lamented  publicly  that 
when  the  fleet  left  Hampton  Roads  it  had  no  hospital  ship 
with  it.  While  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  some  cases 
could  receive  better  attention  on  a  hospital  ship  than  on  a 
battleship,  especially  in  the  way  of  better  quarters  and  pos- 
sibly better  diet,  it  is  also  true  that  none  of  the  sick  on  the 
fleet  suffered  seriously  from  the  lack  of  a  hospital  ship, 
unless  it  was  in  tubercular  cases.  Such  could  have  been 
put  on  shore  for  better  air  and  sustained  treatment  in  vari- 
ous places  had  it  been  necessary.  The  sick  on  each  ship 
were  not  more  than  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  cases  on 
an  average  and  a  large  part  of  these  were  trivial,  slight 
accidents  of  colds  and  the  like. 


LESSONS  OF  THE  CRUISE  317 

There  were  the  usual  number  of  deaths.  No  one  can  say 
that  any  of  these  lives  would  have  been  spared  had  there 
been  a  hospital  ship  with  the  fleet.  Some  of  these  cases 
developed  on  a  single  run,  when  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  transfer  them  to  the  hospital  ship.  This  comment 
is  not  meant  in  any  way  as  taking  sides  in  the  hospital  ship 
controversy.  It  is  meant  to  declare  that  it  is  quite  feasible 
for  a  great  fleet  while  cruising  to  take  care  of  its  sick  suc- 
cessively, even  if  no  hospital  ship  be  at  hand. 

One  great  drawback  to  the  full  enjoyment  and  probably 
to  the  full  development  of  the  benefits  of  the  cruise  was 
the  condition  of  Admiral  Evans'  health.  Soon  after  leav- 
ing Trinidad,  his  old  enemy,  rheumatism,  took  hold  of  him 
and  laid  him  low  for  the  rest  of  the  voyage.  Complica- 
tions in  the  nature  of  stomach  troubles  followed.  The 
Admiral  suffered  intensely  from  pain.  At  times  he  was 
in  a  most  serious  condition,  as  the  country  now  knows. 
The  correspondents  with  the  fleet  did  not  feel  it  necessary 
to  reveal  the  grave  condition  of  the  Admiral's  health, 
largely  because  of  the  misunderstandings  that  might  arise, 
to  say  nothing  of  possible  complications.  For  the  most 
part  they  kept  silent,  recording,  however,  at  every  oppor- 
tunity any  favorable  change  in  his  condition. 

Nevertheless,  although  Admiral  Evans  was  a  gravely 
sick  man,  the  truth  is  that  he  was  always  in  command  of  his 
fleet  up  to  the  time  when  he  left  it  at  Magdalena  Bay. 
He  might  have  done  more  work  with  it  in  the  way  of 
manoauvring  had  he  been  well.  His  work  may  have  been 
negative  rather  than  positive,  but  he  was  in  command  all 
the  time.  He  directed  all  important  movements.  He  was 
informed  of  every  situation.  He  gave  every  important 


318  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

order  himself.  He  also  kept  up  with  the  routine  and  many 
painful  hours  did  he  spend  signing  documents  and  going 
over  routine  work. 

The  details  of  an  Admiral's  task  are  burdensome  even 
to  a  well  man.  Yet  Admiral  Evans  insisted  on  keeping  up 
with  most  of  the  work  even  when  every  stroke  of  the  pen 
caused  him  severe  pain.  Never  did  he  have  more  loyal 
subordinates. 

Particularly  was  this  true  of  Rear  Admiral  C.  M. 
Thomas.  Had  the  latter  made  unfavorable  representa- 
tions to  the  Navy  Department  of  the  condition  of  Admiral 
Evans  he  possibly  might  have  secured  the  command  of  the 
fleet  for  himself.  Not  for  one  moment  would  he  have  lis- 
tened to  such  a  suggestion,  and  no  one  dared  to  make  it  to 
him.  Robley  D.  Evans  never  had  more  loyal  friend  or 
more  faithful  subordinate  officer  than  Charles  M.  Thomas. 
He  deserves  lasting  honor  from  the  country  for  his  record 
on  this  cruise,  to  say  nothing  of  the  enviable  record 
throughout  his  long  service  to  his  flag. 

California's  welcome  to  the  fleet  was  characteristic  of  the 
ardent  temperament  of  that  commonwealth.  It  received 
the  men  and  the  ships  with  an  acclaim  such  as  might  have 
been  bestowed  justly  had  they  returned  to  an  American 
port  victorious  on  the  high  seas  over  an  enemy.  The  peo- 
ple seemed  to  go  mad  in  their  enthusiasm.  The  demonstra- 
tions began  when  Admiral  Evans  left  Magdalena  Bay  in 
the  latter  part  of  March  by  the  advice  of  his  physicians, 
to  go  to  Paso  Robles,  Cal.,  for  a  stay  on  land.  His  flag- 
ship took  him  to  San  Diego  and  his  presence  in  California 
seemed  to  stimulate  the  people  into  a  sort  of  frenzied 
patriotism. 


LESSONS  OF  THE  CRUISE  319 

The  fleet  stopped  at  five  California  anchorages  on  the 
way  from  Magdalena  to  San  Francisco,  the  real  terminus 
of  the  cruise  as  ordered  originally  by  President  Roosevelt. 
There  was  a  stay  of  four  days  at  San  Diego,  of  seven 
days  in  the  four  anchorages  adjacent  to  Los  Angeles,  the 
fleet  being  split  up  into  four  divisions ;  of  five  days  in 
Santa  Barbara  and  of  four  days  in  Monterey  and  Santa 
Cruz.  At  each  port  the  welcome  was  overwhelming. 
Streets  and  buildings  were  decorated,  flowers  were  scat- 
tered on  the  streets  before  the  marching  sailors  and  thrown 
in  profusion  into  vehicles  in  which  the  officers  rode.  Los 
Angeles  particularly  devoted  its  attention  to  entertaining 
the  bluejackets.  Santa  Barbara  gave  one  of  its  wonder- 
ful flower  shows.  It  was  the  most  novel  and  beautiful  en- 
tertainment of  the  cruise.  The  other  cities  entertained 
with  dinners,  balls  and  receptions.  The  keynote  of  the 
functions  was  one  of  great  rejoicing  on  the  part  of  Cali- 
fornia, not  only  because  the  United  States  had  a  great 
fleet  of  battleships,  but  because  California  was  enabled  to 
see  them  all  at  one  time. 

The  arrival  of  the  fleet  at  San  Francisco  on  May  6  was 
characterized  by  such  a  demonstration  of  enthusiasm  and 
an  outpouring  of  the  people  as  the  country  never  saw  be- 
fore. Tens  of  thousands  came  hundreds  of  miles  to  see 
the  entrance  through  the  Golden  Gate.  Admiral  Evans, 
who  had  returned  to  the  command  of  his  flagship  the  day 
before  at  Monterey,  led  the  fleet  into  the  harbor.  The 
hills  were  black  with  spectators.  The  harbor  was  crowded 
with  beautifully  decorated  shipping  carrying  thousands 
on  the  water  to  see  the  show.  The  Pacific  fleet  of  eight 
armored  cruisers  and  auxiliaries  lay  inside  the  bay.  With 


320  WITH  THE  BATTLE  FLEET 

the  Battle  Fleet  was  the  torpedo  flotilla  that  made  the  trip 
around  South  America  at  the  same  time  that  the  Battle 
Fleet  went  around. 

The  Atlantic  and  Pacific  fleets  joined  in  one  and  then 
Admiral  Evans  made  a  circle,  nearly  two  miles  in  diameter, 
leading  no  less  than  forty-two  men  of  war  of  the  United 
States, '  the  largest  number  of  American  warships  ever 
assembled  together  since  the  civil  war,  and  the  most  power- 
ful fleet  ever  seen  in  the  Western  hemisphere,  a  fleet  greater 
in  size  and  power  than  any  nation  had  ever  gathered  to- 
gether before  with  the  exception  of  Great  Britain. 

Following  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  there  was  a  great  land 
parade  in  San  Francisco,  the  next  day,  in  which  6,000  blue- 
jackets joined  with  the  regular  army  troops  and  state 
national  guard  and  other  organizations.  It  was  the  largest 
parade  of  the  kind  since  the  great  Dewey  parade  in  New 
York  ten  years  before.  Admiral  Evans  rode  in  the  line. 
It  was  his  last  public  appearance  as  a  Commander-in-Chief . 
The  people  cheered  the  bluejackets  wildly,  but  they  went 
mad  over  Admiral  Evans.  They  made  a  hero  out  of  him 
because  of  his  persistent  and  plucky  struggle  with  pain 
and  disease.  Although  thousands  of  men  marched  in  the 
parade  there  really  was  only  one  man  in  it  —  Fighting 
Bob  Evans.  All  the  others  were  a  mere  escort.  His  naval 
sun  went  down  that  day  in  a  veritable  blaze  of  glory. 

The  next  day  Secretary  Metcalf  of  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment reviewed  the  combined  fleets,  passing  through  the  lines 
on  the  gunboat  Yorktown  and  receiving  a  salute  of  seven- 
teen guns  from  each  ship  as  "  the  personal  representative 
of  the  President."  The  next  day  Admiral  Evans  gave  up 
command  formally  to  Admiral  Thomas  at  a  hotel^  where 


LESSONS  OF  THE  CRUISE  321 

that  evening  Admiral  Evans  was  taken  in  a  wheeled  chair 
to  the  dining  room  where  a  banquet  in  honor  of  Secretary 
Metcalf  and  the  officers  of  the  fleet  was  being  held  and 
where  Admiral  Evans,  wan  and  feeble  and  scarcely  able  to 
stand,  electrified  his  audience  by  declaring  impassionedly 
that  what  this  country  needs  "  is  more  battleships  and 
fewer  statesmen."  On  the  day  following  Rear  Admiral 
Thomas  hoisted  his  flag  as  Commander-in-Chief,  to  be  re- 
lieved five  days  later  by  Rear  Admiral  Charles  S.  Sperry. 

Under  the  latter's  command  the  fleet  went  to  Puget 
Sound  to  give  the  people  of  that  region  an  opportunity  to 
see  the  ships,  such  as  had  been  given  along  the  California 
coast.  There  were  the  usual  rounds  of  entertainment  and 
then  the  fleet  scattered  to  various  places  to  make  repairs 
and  to  prepare  to  resume  the  voyage  around  the  world  by 
way  of  Australia,  the  Orient  and  the  Mediterranean. 

The  arrival  of  the  fleet  at  San  Francisco  marked  the  real 
end  of  the  cruise.  With  that  there  was  accomplished  the 
specific  purpose  for  which  it  was  ordered  to  the  Pacific. 
What  that  purpose  was  may  never  be  revealed.  All  the 
naval  officers  concerned  felt  that  the  rest  of  the  trip  to  the 
home  stations  of  the  ships  would  be  largely  a  pleasure 
jaunt.  All  agreed  that  with  the  arrival  at  San  Francisco 
the  record  of  a  momentous  cruise  by  a  momentous  fleet  had 
been  made  up. 


"  It  really  deserves  a  corner  by  itself  on  the  bookshelf,'* 
says  the  Boston  Transcript  of 

THE   CITY  THAT  WAS 

A  Requiem  of  Old  San  Francisco 
by 

WILL  IRWIN 

This  tribute  to  the  San  Francisco  that 
passed  away  with  the  disaster  of  April,  1 906, 
has  become  classic.  Originally  it  was  printed 
in  the  New  York  Sun,  having  been  written 
with  a  copy-boy  at  the  author's  elbow.  In- 
spired by  the  thought  of  intimate  ties  which 
made  every  feature  of  the  city  dear  to  him, 
and  the  dangers  by  which  it  was  still  threat- 
ened, Mr.  Irwin  dashed  off  a  prose  epic 
which  will  always  remain  the  truest  memorial 
to  San  Francisco's  greatness. 

Board  covers,  net  50  cents,  postage  4  cents 

Limp  leather,  in  box,  autographed  by  Mr.  Irwin ; 
net  $2.00,  postage  8  cents 

At  all  booksellers  or  of 
B.  W.  HUEBSCH         PUBLISHER  NEW  YORK 


"  She  is  a  lovable  creature,  as  fine  a  portraiture  as  any 
writer  of  tales  has  added  to  our  literature  in  a  generation,*' 
says  the  Rochester  Post-Express  of  Denise  in 

A  PRINCESS  AND  ANOTHER 

by 
LIEUT.  STEPHEN  JENKINS 

"This  capital  story  ....  shows  as  great  a  knowledge 
of  the  historical  situation  as  that  famous  novel,  Hugh 
Wynne  ....  In  point  of  fact,  the  novel  is  excellent 
history ;  in  point  of  fiction,  as  good  a  love  tale  as  one 
may  desire.  Of  excellent  characterization,  full  of  clear, 
contrasting  types,  yet  never  straining  the  verisimilitudes, 
the  book  possesses  brisk  action  ....  Carried  away  by 
the  good  story  he  has  to  relate,  he  bears  the  reader  along 
with  him.  The  plot  is  well  developed  ....  The 
novel  is  as  much  a  promise  oi  good  things  to  come  as  a 
source  of  present  entertainment  ....  One  is  safe  to 
predict  a  growing  audience  for  Mr.  Jenkins*  work." 

— Louisville  Courier- Journal. 

"  It  should  probably  be  classified  as  a  historical  romance, 
but  it  is  vivid,  lifelike,  and  surcharged  with  human  interest. 
A  story  remarkable  for  its  reminiscent  value,  for  its  con- 
structive skill,  for  its  grouping  of  characters  and  incidents 
in  a  style  which  captivates  the  reader." 

— Rochester  Democrat   and   Chronicle. 

"  Stephen  Jenkins  has  proved  in  « A  Princess  and 
Another  *  that  a  novel  of  colonial  days  can  still  be  written 
that  is  worth  reading."  — Springfield  Republican. 

Price  #1.50  postpaid 

At  all    booksellers   or  of 

B.  W.  HUEBSCH  PUBLISHER  NEW  YORK 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below, 
or  on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  Renewals  only: 

Tel.  No.  642-3405 

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